The US Women’s Team:

1. GM Irina Krush (2430)
2. IM Carissa Yip (2418)
3. IM Anna Zatonskih (2387)
4. WGM Tatev Abrahamyan (2297)
5. WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (2332)

The American women’s team has an average FIDE rating of 2372, which would put them within the top dozen teams in India. The team will be captained by Armenian-American GM Melikset Khachiyan and the coach of the team will be GM Alejandro Ramirez.

A number of countries already revealed the composition of their teams for Chennai, such as: Norway, England,  Germany, Spain, Serbia, USA, Netherlands, Montenegro, Monaco, Kenya, India, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Malawi, South Sudan, Mongolia, Argentina, Rwanda … 
The 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 in Chennai will be the record-breaking Chess Olympiad as already 187 teams enrolled for the event. In the previous Chess Olympiad held in Baku in 2018, the participation record of team numbers was set with 176 countries, 184 teams in Open section, and 150 teams in the Women’s section. With more time left before the registrations are closed for Chennai, it is almost ensured that the new participants record will be broken. Read more about the new record here

The incident is described in the report below.

It was a surprise for Angela, while Niklesh had planned it all! An amazing moment not just for Niklesh and Angela but the chess community in general.

A Colombian got engaged to an Indian at the biggest possible event in chess where people from 189 countries are taking part! Gens Una Sumus!

Video by ChessBase India

The prize for the most brilliant game will be awarded after each of the 11 rounds. All players are encouraged to submit their game for consideration for the daily prize to BatumiOlympiad@gmail.com

Every day, after each round of the 43rd Chess Olympiad, the judging committee, led by Grandmaster Susan Polgar, will choose the games (one in the Open and one Women’s Olympiad) as the “Game of the Round”.

The winners of those games will be awarded a small prize by the NNLE and The Organizing Committee of the 2018 World Chess Olympiad.

Finally, after the last round of the Batumi Chess Olympiad, the players who won the most brilliant game overall will receive a special prize.

The President wished the players success at the upcoming 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi. They also had a short conversation about promoting chess in Russia and training a new generation of chess players, including at the Sirius centre, where this activity is led by Vladimir Kramnik.

Taking part in the meeting were members of the men’s team Vladimir Kramnik, Sergei Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dmitry Jakovenko and Nikita Vityugov; while Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alexandra Goryachkina, Natalia Pogonina, Valentina Gunina and Olga Girya represented the women’s team. President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrei Filatov also attended the meeting.

On behalf of the Georgian Chess Federation and the Chess Olympiad Organizing Committee, it is my great honor to invite all FIDE member countries to 43rd Batumi Chess Olympiad and 89th FIDE congress, to be held from 23rd of September till 6th of October 2018 in Batumi, Georgia.

As you may know Georgia has a great history of Chess. Georgia is the homeland of legendary, five times world champions Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze. Our country has hosted numerous European and World competitions and we believe that 43rd Chess Olympiad will be another significant event.

This year Georgia celebrates 100 Anniversary of independence and for our country it is great honor to host the guests from all over the world. I do hope that 43rd Chess Olympiad will take considerable place in the hearts of hosts as well as all the attending guests.

George Giorgadze, President, Georgian Chess Federation

The Chess Olympiad is open to all National Federations affiliated to FIDE, each of which can nominate one team for the open section and one for the women’s section. Each team consists of four players, one reserve and one captain. The captain may be, but not necessarily, one of the players or the reserve.

Additionally, each delegation can nominate one head of delegation and one delegate for the FIDE congress. FIDE regulations apply for the Batumi Chess Olympiad like for the other FIDE Chess events.

The Olympiad venue, Sport Palace, situated on the center of Batumi, has been built in 2018 and the first event to be held there will be the Batumi Chess Olympiad. The Sport Palace is a very spacious modern complex. Transportation to the Sport palace from the relevant hotels will be provided by the organizers.

The dress code will apply: Teams are requested to wear uniforms with two options: either trouser suits or blazers with trousers/skirts with federation logo on jackets or track suits with country clearly shown on the front or back of the uniform.

The arrival day is 23rd September. On the same evening from 21:00 the opening ceremony will take place at the beautiful Black Sea Arena.

On 24th September there will be a captains meeting at 9:30 and arbiters meeting at 10:00. The first round is from 15:00.

Daily rounds will start from 15:00, except for the last 11th round on 5th October which will start from 11:00. The closing ceremony is from 20:00. Departures are on 6th October.

All participants to the Olympiad and the Congress have to be registered. The registration is open from 23 April to 23 July 2018. The organizers have elaborated a special on-line system for the participants of the Olympiad and the Congress: https://batumi2018.fide.com/en/register.

All participants of the Olympiad will be accommodated in 5 and 4 stars hotels located in Batumi and its surroundings. The teams will be allocated in hotels according to the decision of the Batumi Chess Olympiad Organizing Committee, based on the teams’ performance in the previous Olympiad.

All teams (6 persons) will get two free double rooms and two free single rooms with full board. The open and female teams and head of delegation from the same Federation will be accommodated in the same Hotel.

Download full invitation / Official website

This year Georgia will be organizing the 43rd Chess Olympiad. This large-scale event will start in Batumi on September 23 and end on October 6.

Sixteen countries had participated in the first Chess Olympiad but the 43rd Chess Olympiad is expecting the teams of women and men from approximately 190 countries.

A scheduled FIDE inspection takes place today in Batumi. FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos, Vice President Israel Gelfer, CEO Geoffrey Borg and Moshe Slav have met the representatives of the Organizing Committee, including ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili, President of Georgian Chess Federation Giorgi Giorgadze and IO Akaki Iashvili.

On the state level Georgia was represented by Minister of Culture and Sports Mikheil Giorgadze, Deputy Ministers Kakha Kandelaki, Shalva Gogoladze and Mukhran Shamatava, Head of the Government of Adjara Zurab Pataridze and Adjara Minister of Culture and Sports Mikheil Gorgodze.

Before the start of the event, the Russian coach had mentioned that he was worried about the India Green team more than anybody else. Once the Greens were out of the way, the Russians effortlessly marched to take the Gold.

In the penultimate round, the Russians played Armenia and the first two boards finished in draws. On the third board, FM Artur Gaifullin, rated 2417, was completely winning but could only draw. But it did not matter.

On the fourth board, Russian FM Timur Fakhritdinov, rated 2408, won comfortably to take Russia home once again. Russia won 2.5-1.5.

India Green was playing Uzbekistan. GM Aryan Chopra’s torrid form continues as he lost his fifth game, this time to Uzbek IM Nodirbek Yakkuboev.

IM Praggnanandhaa kept pressing with black until his Uzbek opponent IM Shamsiddin Vokhidov, rated 2412 cracked and lost. IM Nihal Sarin also kept pressing against Saydaliev Saidakber, rated 2362, until the Uzbek lost the thread and lost.

IM Iniyan P., rated 2452, smashed Daler Vakhidov, rated 2250. Iniyan is clearly the unsung hero for India Green as he has scored 6.5/7 on the third/fourth board.

With the Gold already confirmed, Iran and India now are fighting for the Silver medal. With 13 match points, India is ahead of Iran who has 12 match points.

Photos by Priyadarshan Banjan

Standing after round 8:

1. Russia – 16
2. India Green – 13
3. Iran – 12
4. Armenia – 10
5. Belarus – 10
6. Kazakhstan – 10
7. India Red – 10
8. India Blue – 9
9. Uzbekistan – 9
10. Turkey – 9
11. Malaysia – 9
12. South Africa A – 9
13. Canada – 8
14. Argentina – 8
15. Indonesia – 8
16. Sri Lanka – 8
17. Mongolia – 8
18. Iraq – 8
19. Israel – 8
20. Kyrgyzstan – 7
21. Kenya – Simba – 7
22. Bangladesh – 6
23. Nepal A – 6
24. Australia – 6
25. South Africa B – 6
26. Thailand – 5
27. Mozambique – 4
28. Nepal B – 3
29. Kenya – Ndovu – 1
30. Uganda – 0