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September 4, 05:21 CET

In a groundbreaking decision aimed at promoting inclusivity and support for displaced persons, a team representing refugees will take part in the 45th Chess Olympiad set to take place in Budapest, Hungary, in 2024. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich noted the significance of this decision, stating, “In our complex global landscape where numerous people are left displaced and without homes, the inclusion of a refugee team in the Chess Olympiad is a testament to our commitment to support those in need. Chess has the power to offer solace and empowerment to individuals facing adversity, and this initiative shows our dedication to using chess as a tool for positive change.” The move follows a request made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the FIDE Council.

None of the refugees has FIDE rating, so they will start at the 1400 rating floor. Team open consists of Chol Mach Nhial, Ader Ajak Ader, Ngong Atem Gak, Atem Deng Achuoth, Jock Nyok Ayual. The women team is Athieng Chol Anhiany, Ajok Atem Achuoth, Sylvia Tete Mario, Awan Majak Bol, Amer Mach Ayuen.

September 3, 07:38 CET

Deborah Quickpen is a Woman Candidate Master (WCM) right before the Chess Olympiad! Her compatriot FM Eytonghan will also be there.

September 2, 11:33 CET

Germany’s average rating for the Chess Olympiad 2024 grows from 2663 to 2667 in the August rating list. The rating jump comes thanks to the good performance of Vincent Keymer at Rubinstein Memorial where he adds 11 ELO. Dimitrij Kollars also adds 3 rating points and Frederik Svane 4 points. With this Germany jumps to 7th position in the seedings, overtaking England.

September 2, 09:45 CET

India’s captain comments in an interview for Chessdom, “I think being the seeding number of the team hardly matters. It comes down to individual matchups, and Olympiad is like an open event. I think having a young team is a bit of an advantage here, as the experience of playing opens is still fresh in their memories.” Read the full interview here

September 1, 09:45 CET

Le Quang Liem is one of the few players from the 2700 club that arrives in Budapest with higher rating than the Olympiad in Chennai. In fact, this is the highest rating for Le Quang Liem. In a rating deflation environment this is quite an achievement.

September 1, 08:00 CET

The month of September is finally here and we are just ten days away from the opening ceremony of the Chess Olympiad 2024! News starts coming about delegations arriving in Budapest and despite continuous accommodation trouble there is a growing excitement among the participants and fans alike

August 31, 16:35 CET

A day after accommodation problems at the Chess Olympiad 2024 became public knowledge, Anish Giri roasted FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky about his lack of proper communication with the delegations, and in general. Later today we will publish the statement of Malcolm Pein from ECF on Chessdom

August 30, 20:00 CET

Accommodation woes, unexpected extra costs incurred, and visa problems for teams. What started as a local problem for the organizers is turning into a serious issue for FIDE and the image of chess, as with less than two weeks remaining to the start of the Chess Olympiad problems are getting from bad to worse. Read the full news here

August 29, 21:03 CET

Hosting the Chess Olympiad is a European affair. Out of the 45 Olympiads, only a handful have happened outside of Europe. These are the 8th Olympiad in 1939 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the 16th Olympiad in 1964 in Tel Aviv, Israel; the 17th Olympiad in 1966 in La Havana, Cuba; the 22nd Chess Olympiad in 1976 in Haifa, Israel; the 23rd Chess Olympiad in 1978 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the 27th Chess Olympiad in 1986 in Dubai, UAE; the 30th Chess Olympiad in 1992 in Manila, Phillipines; the 44th Chess Olympiad in 2022 in Chennai, India; and in the near future the 46th Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan

That makes 8 Olympiads outside Europe and 37 Olympiads in Europe. The 45th Chess Olympiad will be the first in Hungary, if we do not count the unofficial Chess Olympiad in 1926.

Here is a map of the host cities of the Chess Olympiad.

August 28, 19:45 CET

We will cover live the opening ceremony as well as all events leading to it in the Chess Olympiad 2024 live blog. The song Trojan War will be part of the show and the FIDE anthem will be played, but little more is know for now. In a short statement for Chessdom, FIDE Head of PR Anna Volkova commented, “We are not ready yet to reveal the concept of the opening ceremony and the list of its official guests.”

August 28, 09:15 CET

Japan is ready for the Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest. Taro Shinoda, board member of the Chess Federation of Japan and head of the delegation in Budapest, commented for Chessdom, “The Open team is the strongest in our history, with all members being titleholders for the first time. Additionally, FM Aoshima Mirai is also a professional shogi player, making him the first professional shogi player to compete in the Olympiad.” Read the full Japan presentation here

August 27, 18:45 CET

India come with the highest combined rating to the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Boasting the highest rated Indian player Arjun Erigaisi and World Championship challenger Gukesh D in the open section, and a refreshed team in the women section, India have a lot to hope for. Our IANS colleague Venkatachari Jagannathan correctly noted that India has even bigger participation in Budapest, with various teams coached by Indian players. See the Chess Olympiad 2024 team India here

August 26, 11:15 CET

The youngest participant at the last Chess Olympiad was 8-year-old Randa Seder. You can see an interview with Randa here. Quiz: Do you know who will be the youngest participant of the Chess Olympiad in Budapest? Send your answer @ Twitter/X or via the contact form

August 26, 2:43 CET

The venue: Chess Olympiad 2024 will take place in BOK Sports Hall, formerly known as SAP Hall (2000-2003) and SYMA Sports and Events Centre (2003-2016). The center can accommodate up to with a capacity of around 5,500 for sports events and closer to 10,000 for music concerts, with additional conference rooms have capacities ranging from 35 to 250 people. (Image of the playing hall)

August 26, 2:15 CET

August 26, 1:25 CET

According to the July rating list, the top team of the Olympiad is USA with average ELO of 2755, followed by India (2753), China (2726), Netherlands (2687), Uzbekistan (2684), Norway (2673), England (2666), Germany (2663), Hungary (2663), and Poland (2662). See all participants in the open section

In the women section of the Olympiad the top team is India (2467), closely followed by Georgia (2461), Poland (2418), China (2414), Ukraine (2402), Azerbaijan (2402), USA (2388), Spain (2382), Germany (2380), Kazakhstan (2370), and Armenia (2365). See all participants in the women section

The August update of the rating list will bring changes, we will closely follow them here.

August 26, 12:45 CET

The Chess Olympiad 2024 will have an official song. This is Rose May and Raul – Trojan war. You can listen to the song, read the story and the full lyrics here

August 26, 12:25 CET

The Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest breaks the participation record. 2022 Chennai Olympiad held the participation record with 187 teams registered in Open competition and 162 teams registered in the Women’s competition, a record that was previously set in Batumi, 2018 with 182 teams representing 176 countries in Open and Women sections. Now Budapest Chess Olympiad 2024 will feature 193 teams in the Open section and 181 squads in the Women’s competition.

Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, the US Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Nauru, and the Cayman Islands – will make their debut in Budapest in the Women section. (see the full news here)

World Rapid & Blitz 2024 to be a financial burden for the player

The first one to raise concern about the financial costs of accommodation around December 31 in New York was ex-FIDE chief marketing and communication officer David Llada. The famous photographer ironically pointed out that “Visiting FIDE World Rapid & Blitz in New York may require getting a loan“

The CEO of WorldChess was also surprised, “Really? Getting hotel on these days in NY is close to impossible, getting construction and team in place — the same, the media is all about the New Year, not chess or anything else, and finishing on the 31st means that you have to spend the New Year in NYC or travel on NYE.”

Tarjei Svensen points out the solution, “To cover hotel expenses, you’ll need to finish at least 26th-35th in both events, which secures a cash prize of $1500 each. (Fun fact: Nepomniachtchi finished 34th in Rapid last year, Nihal 36th & Aronian 37th).” But Josephine Heinemann adds to those costs the travel expenses, “Don’t forget about the flights, which are also quite expensive from most parts of the world at this time of the year.”

Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, board 2 for Norway and teammate of Carlsen for the upcoming Chess Olympiad 2024 (see participants list here) was unpleasantly surprised, “Don’t understand the reasoning behind a free day for such a short event. This is going to be ridiculously pricey for us players”

Read more: David Llada to skip Chess Olympiad 2024 after clash with FIDE

The wrong timing

GothamChess coach Arturs Neiksans commented the timing of the World Rapid & Blitz 2024, “IMHO organizing World Rapid and Blitz during Christmas is not a great idea. I know many players (including myself) who always spend this time with the family. Another thing – the high travel / hotel costs during holidays. Why not do it in the beginning of December?”

The freelance writer Laura Vegh added, “It’s ridiculous. Not to mention it will likely impact live views. With the timezone difference, New Year’s celebrations will literally be happening at the time of the tournament on half of the globe”

MrDodgy pointed the European point of view, “okay if we go off last years schedule, playing the last round at midnight CET is just an incredibly funny bit, well done Emil”

The journalists in trouble

Peter Doggers from Chess.com pointed out an important issue. The coverage of the event is often directly proportional to its success. Having the travel and accommodation difficulties at the festive part of the year, multiple journalists will skip entirely the event.

FIDE communication style continues

When FIDE makes something good for chess (and they do make multiple good advances!) communication is easy. Questions are answered, journalists are paid attention to, and news is easily spread. When FIDE makes a mistake or is not happy about journalists asking for transparency, the communication stops.

In this case, Emil Sutovsky was asked by Chessdom, “There has been criticism that prices for accommodation and expenses around New Year Eve are very high. Has this been considered by FIDE when taking the final decision?” To which Sutovsky answered, “We cover costs for dozens of the top players. We offer discounted prices for others. Also players don’t have to stay in official hotels. Yes, NYC is expensive – in particular at this time of the year. But it is the World Championships. And chess benefits having it there and then.”

The follow up question, “The venue and place is a good choice, kudos. But the timing is bad. High costs… flights delays… audience drops… Was the rest day needed? And why was there no public discussion on this FIDE decision?” remains unanswered, despite Emil Sutovsky being active on Twitter/X and selectively answering other topics.

Criticism into humor

FIDE’s decision to extend the tournament is bad on so many levels, that multiple Twitter/X users started joking with the situation. BlunderMaster said, “FIDE hates Christmas and New Year – Confirmed!” Mig Greengard, living in New York joked, “I should rent out my kids’ rooms for $500/night. We’re in Brooklyn, dog and cats included free!”

This is the 60th Anniversary of the Akiba Rubinstein Chess Festival. How does the responsibility to organize such a long-lasting event feel?

The stress and the associated responsibility are certainly a significant burden, especially considering the prestigious nature of the festival and its long-standing tradition. However, this is far from our first event, and the entire team is quite experienced. Over the years, we have honed our organizational skills, and thanks to our dedicated and passionate team, the pressure becomes more manageable. It is also an honor to continue the legacy of this tournament, knowing how important it is in the history of Polish and global chess.

The main event is much stronger than previous editions. Was it difficult to collect this star field?

Thanks to the anniversary nature of the event and the rich history behind it, gathering such a star-studded field was surprisingly smooth. The players were very receptive, and almost none of them declined the invitation. Many top players recognize the prestige associated with this festival, and they were eager to be part of this milestone edition. The legacy of Akiba Rubinstein, one of the greatest chess players in history, is also a significant draw for participants.

GMs Duda, Bartel, and Wojtaszek are true ambassadors for Polish chess. Was it difficult to convince them to join the event?

We started the discussions with these three players, and I’m delighted to say that their responses were swift and positive. Having the top three Polish players in the lineup was incredibly important for us. They represent not only the strength of Polish chess but also its bright future. Their participation elevates the level of the tournament and reinforces its status as a key event in the international chess calendar.

These three players are the top 3 boards of the Polish Olympic team. What do you expect from Poland at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest?

Objectively speaking, the performance of our players in this tournament wasn’t their best. However, I hope that their participation here served as a valuable warm-up and will help them at the Olympiad. Expectations for the Olympiad are high, and we certainly hope that our team will fight for the top positions, including medals. I firmly believe that if all the players hit their peak form, it’s entirely possible for the Polish team to achieve something special.

See: Polish team at the Chess Olympiad (open) / Live blog from the Chess Olympiad 2024

Vincent Keymer won the tournament and entered the world top 20. What are your impressions of his performance?

Vincent Keymer, the youngest Grandmaster in the field, has undoubtedly left a strong impression on all of us. His brilliant start of the tournament was particularly striking, and despite a slightly less dominant finish, it was enough for him to secure an individual victory. There is no doubt that Vincent is a phenomenal player with immense potential. I am confident that he has a long and successful career ahead of him, and we will see him competing at the very highest levels of world chess.

There are multiple side events at the festival. That looks like a huge organizational effort.

Indeed, it’s a very demanding period, requiring meticulous coordination. However, this effort is not just mine alone; it is the collective work of a dedicated team of organizers and arbiters. I am incredibly proud of the team we have assembled. Their experience and commitment are what make it possible to run such a complex and multifaceted event. The side events add vibrancy to the festival and ensure that there is something for chess players of all levels and interests.

A festival of this size requires support. What are the sponsors that made the event possible?

The title sponsor of the Grandmaster tournament is ALREH, a company specializing in, among other things, the production of medical equipment. However, the list of sponsors, both big and small, is much longer. We also cannot overlook the support of the Polish Chess Federation and other public funding, which has been crucial in making this event a reality. Without this support, it would be impossible to organize such a prestigious festival.

This year is an anniversary of the event. But can we say that the foundation for a strong chess festival is here? What can we expect of the Akiba Rubinstein festival in 2025?

The round-robin tournaments held in Polanica-Zdrój during the 1990s were incredibly strong, featuring world champions and legendary players. Without a doubt, we are drawing inspiration from those fantastic editions. I sincerely hope that this year’s tournament is not a one-off, but rather the start of a new tradition where a strong grandmaster tournament becomes a permanent fixture in Polanica-Zdrój. The festival is not just about the grandmaster event—it’s now a celebration of chess for hundreds of players! I am optimistic that 2025 will bring even more excitement and growth to the festival.

Live: European Youth Chess 2024 live / Report: Big, bigger, European Youth 2024! (Photos and opening)

European Youth Chess 2024 participants: Open U18 / Open U16 / Open U14 / Open U12 / Open U10 / Open U8 / Girls U18 / Girls U16 / Girls U14 / Girls U12 / Girls U10 / Girls U8

The top players in the European Youth Chess 2024 U18 Girls are Noga Orian, Kata Karacsonyi, Mariia Manko, Juliette Cornileau, Enrica Zito, Lucia Sevcikova, Maria Siekanska, Sofiia Tashkinova, Agnesa Stepania Ter-Avetisjana, Dana Kochavi, Paula Suarez Gomez

European Youth Chess 2024 U18 Girls – participants