5 of the chess players who participated in the 44th World Chess Olympiad held in Chennai, India, are from Samarkand.

More specifically, Jahangir Vahidov, Marjona Malikova, Afruza Hamdamova still live in Samarkand today. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (originally from Narpay) and Javahir Sindorov (originally from Khoshrabot) currently live in Tashkent.

The governor of the region Erkinjon Turdimov awarded the members of the Uzbekistan men's national team from Samarkand, who won the chess Olympiad, who did not spare their services and skills. In particular, he presented a letter of thanks and a valuable gift to Toir Vahidov’s, Jahangir Vahidov's fathers, Kamil Sindorov’s, Javahir Sindorov's grandfathers, and Fazliddin Ochilov’s, Nodirbek Abdusattarov's fathers.

These gifts were handed over by the head of the organization-personnel group of the regional administration, B. Rahmatullaev, and the head of the regional sports development department, Shuhrat Ruziev.