24 September 2018

43rd World Chess Olympiad Officially Opened in Batumi

FIDE presidential candidate Arkady Dvorkovich greets Russian teams before the start. 


On October 23, the Opening Ceremony of the 43rd World Chess Olympiad was held at the Black Sea Arena. The President of Georgia Mr. Giorgi Margvelashvili, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia Mr. Mikheil Batiashvili, Chairman of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara Mr. Tornike Rizhvadze, and FIDE Deputy President Mr. Georgios Makropoulos greeted the participants and guests. 

Many well-known Georgian artists, dancers and musicians, including a famous singer Nino Katamadze, made a great show with their bright and beautiful performances.   

The colors were to be decided by white and black pearls hidden inside the seashells. Viswanathan Anand picked the white pearl, meaning that the top seeded team in the Open section - USA will start the Olympiad with white pieces on the top board. Nana Dzagnidze picked the black pearl and the top seeded team in the Women section - Russia will play with black pieces on the top board.

Several hours before the Ceremony, the FIDE presidential candidate Arkady Dvorkovich invited players and coaches of the Russian national teams for a friendly dinner and wished them good luck at the Olympiad. 

A big photo report from the Opening Ceremony will be published later on our website.  

The 43rd World Chess Olympiad is taking place in Batumi, Georgia, from September 23 till October 6, 2018. 

Both open and women's tournaments are 11-round Swiss events. Each team consists of four main players and one reserve. The winners are determined according to the match points. The position of teams that finish with the same number of match points shall be determined by application of the following tie-breaking procedures in sequence, proceeding from (a) to (b) to (c) to the extent required: 1) Sonneborn-Berger, 2) by the number of the game points scored, 3) by the sum of the match points of all the teams opponents, excluding the lowest one.

Time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves and 30 minutes until the end of the game, with 30 seconds additional time per move, starting from move 1. Playing days: September 24-28 and 30 - October 5. Free day: September 29.

The Russian national men's team with Vladimir Kramnik, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Sergey Karjakin, Dmitry Jakovenko, and Nikita Vitiugov has the second starting number. The rating favorite is the U.S. team, a current Olympic champion. Main rivals of the Russian chess players, besides the American team, are chess players from China, Azerbaijan, India, Ukraine, France, Armenia, England, and Israel. Head coach of the Russian national men's chess team is Andrey Filatov, its coaches are Alexander Motylev and Alexander Riazantsev. 

The women's tournament is headed by the Russian team consisting of Alexandra Kosteniuk, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Valentina Gunina, Natalija Pogonina, and Olga Girya. Head coach of the Russian national women's chess team is Sergei Rublevsky, its coaches are Vladimir Potkin and Evgeny Najer. Main competitors of the Russians are the teams from China, Georgia, Ukraine, India, France, Poland, and Kazakhstan. 

The Russian teams have been attending the final training camp in Sochi from which they will go to Batumi.  

General sponsor of the Russian national chess teams is FGC UES. General partner of the Russian Chess Federation is PhosAgro. 

Website of the Olympiad

Tournament page

Photos by Boris Dolmatovsky and Vladimir Barsky