The Chess Olympiad 2026 concluded on September 27 with over 102K Peak Viewers, finishing as the game's sixth most popular event this year. It featured most of the world's top players representing their countries, although GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura were absent.
Note: The statistics were updated on September 29 with the final viewership numbers.
Chess Olympiad 2026 viewership statistics
Basic viewership stats and top streamers from the Chess Olympiad 2026
The Chess Olympiad 2026 peaked at 102,359 viewers at the end of the event, when GM Mukhiddin Madaminov clinched a crucial 2.5:1.5 win over GM Roman Dehtiarov. As a result, the 46th Chess Olympiad became just the sixth chess tournament this year to surpass 100K PV.
The global line-up also meant the Chess Olympiad 2026 attracted viewers in as many as 19 languages. Overall, 84 unique broadcasting channels covered the action across the chess competition's 12 days.
Only six chess events this year have crossed 100K Peak Viewers
YouTube remained the leading platform for audiences to catch the action, contributing over 78% of the overall watch time of a little over 3 million Hours Watched. Official channels continued to attract the highest viewership, with community casters bringing just below 13% of the overall watch time.
Uzbekistan claimed its second Olympiad gold at home
Uzbekistan won the Chess Olympiad 2026 for a second time after Madaminov beat Ukraine's Dehtiarov in the final game of the final round. It was an especially special triumph for the Central Asian nation as the victory came in front of a boisterous home crowd at the Silk Road EXPO in Samarkand.
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Despite world champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju losing, India drew its series with Hungary to clinch silver. Germany took a highly deserved bronze with a 2.5-1.5 win over the Netherlands after GM Matthias Bluebaum defeated GM Jorden van Foreest.
In the women's section, China claimed its seventh Chess Olympiad title with a dominant run, culminating in a 3:1 win over Vietnam that confirmed its title. Kazakhstan and India both drew their final rounds 2:2, but the former pocketed the silver medal while India took home bronze.
India's bronze meant it was the only team to finish on the podium in both the Open and Women's sections. Hence, it unsurprisingly picked up the Gaprindashvili Cup for combined performance for a third time in a row, with the US taking silver.
England’s Bodhana Sivanandan made history in Uzbekistan by becoming the youngest woman grandmaster at age 11 (Image via Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE)
British prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan also made history at the Chess Olympiad 2026 by becoming the youngest woman grandmaster at 11. Someone who taught herself to play by watching tutorials on YouTube, the Indian-origin player posted an extraordinary 8/11 score after playing every round on England's top board.
