The 46th World Chess Olympiad will be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, at the Silk Road Samarkand International Exhibition Center from September 15 to 27, 2026. The tournament, under the auspices of FIDE, will bring together over 4,000 participants and over 400 teams from around the world. The country’s ten strongest chess players will represent Turkmenistan on the international stage.
The women’s team includes national ranking leader Leyla Shokhradova, 2026 Major League winner Lala Shokhradova, as well as national championship medalists Dzhakhan Relzhepova, Myakhri Agamuradova, and Ogulsurai Bayrambaeva. The men’s team includes top-ranked players Saparmurat Atabayev and Meilis Annaberdiev, as well as Major League medalists Amanmukhammet Khommadov, Vepaly Khalynyazov, and Shakhrukh Turayev.
Turkmen athletes are approaching the competition on the crest of a remarkable run of success: the team’s achievements include medals at the Central Asian Championships and Lala Shokhradova’s triumph, winning the Asian Women’s U20 Blitz Championship title in Mumbai. According to Honored Coach of Turkmenistan Serdar Annaberdiev, thanks to systematic training conducted since January with the support of the Chess Federation and the Ashgabat School, as well as joint training camps with the Kazakhstan Federation in Kokshetau under the guidance of Grandmaster Alexander Rakhmanov, the team is set for the highest results and a fight for the podium.
