The Cuban chess teams are set to face the 46th World Chess Olympiad and the 3rd Chess Paralympiad, taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The open and women's competitions will run from September 15 to 27, featuring 11 rounds under the Swiss system. The paralympiad, meanwhile, will take place from September 10 to 17, with seven matches on the program.

Lelys Martínez, Jorge Elías, Dylan Berdayes, Omar Almeida, and Ermes Espinosa make up the Cuban roster for the open section. Competing in the women's division will be Maritza Arribas, Yaniela Forgas, Yerisbel Miranda, Roxángel Obregón, and Ineymig Hernández.

During the previous edition, held in 2024 in Budapest, Cuba finished in 45th place in the open category and 55th among women, with Miranda standing out as one of the island's top performers after scoring 7.5 points out of a possible 11.

Aramís Álvarez, coach of the women's team, told JIT that the goal for this event is clear: to improve on the previous performance.

"It truly was a result that was not expected. We want to focus now on each game, win each match to achieve that goal. We know the difficulties we have faced in preparation, but we must overcome that and rely on our strengths: playing as a team and maintaining a positive mindset," he stated.

"Some of our players have recently taken part in international tournaments, have begun to find their rhythm, and have been improving. The global level has risen significantly, but we believe we can do well and manage to return to being among the top 20 or 30 countries in the tournament," the Cuban coach affirmed.

In the paralympiad for people with disabilities, Cuba will be represented by Carlos Larduet, Pedro Morales, Héctor Luis Fuentes, Alberto Interián, and Idalis Batista, all under the direction of Santiago-based FIDE Master Omar García Martínez.

The squad currently ranks second among 41 countries by average Elo rating (2,200 points), trailing only Poland (2,215).

In the previous edition, hosted by Astana in 2025, the Cubans finished in sixth place among 34 teams with eight points out of a possible 12, making them the highest-ranked nation from the Americas.

With such a track record, García Martínez has ample reason to be optimistic.

"It is a team with experience and significant results, but this year we want to improve even further on what we achieved in previous editions. We are the second-ranked team in the selection standings, which gives us an indication that there are possibilities for great things, and we have worked toward that goal," he said.

"Larduet, who is on the first board, has prepared quite well; part of that preparation took place in Mexico. The rest of the squad participated in the Capablanca tournament last June."

"The team is quite complete. We aspire to a team medal, which is complex but possible. Individually, we also want to aim for a medal, especially with Larduet. It is not easy, but we can fight for it," García Martínez added.

For the Cuban coach, playing seven rounds instead of five, as was the case in 2025, benefits the athletes because it provides more margin to recover ground in case of setbacks.