Russian Chess Players Head Starting Lists of the FIDE World Team Championships

The tournament starts in Khanty-Mansiysk on June 16. 

The FIDE World Team Championships will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk from June 16 till June 27. 10 teams will compete both in the open and women’s sections. The national teams of Russia are rating favourites in both sections.

The Russian men’s team is represented by Peter Svidler (2756), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2732), Nikita Vitiugov (2720), Maxim Matlakov (2707), and Vladimir Fedoseev (2703), average rating – 2724. Head coach is Andrey Filatov.

The main rivals of the Russians are the teams from China Ding Liren (2783), Yu Yangyi (2749), Wei Yi (2728), Li Chao (2720), and Wen Yang (2617), average rating – 2720), Ukraine (Ruslan Ponomariov (2712), Anton Korobov (2711), Andrei Volokitin (2649), Alexander Areschenko (2652), Martyn Kravtsiv (2653), average rating – 2676), the United States of America (Jeffery Xiong (2658), Ray Robson (2656), Alexander Onischuk (2685), Samuel Shankland (2676), Varuzhan Akobian (2673), average rating – 2670), and Poland (Radoslaw Wojataszek (2730), Jan Krzysztof Duda (2697), Kacper Piorun (2632), Mateusz Bartel (2637), Grzegorz Gajewski (2628), average rating – 2665).

In spite of lower average ratings, the teams from India (2657), Belarus (2601), Turkey (2583), Norway (2510), and Egypt (2404) are surely able to come as a surprise and create sensations on a chessboard.

Teams

In the women’s section, the top seeds are Russia (Kateryna Lagno (2539), Alexandra Kosteniuk (2537), Valentina Gunina (2504),  Olga Girya (2480), Aleksandra Goryachkina (2477), average rating – 2508, Head coach is Sergei Rublevsky), China (Ju Wenjun (2583), the Women’s World Chess Champion Tan Zhongyi (2517), Zhao Xue (2490), Lei Tingjie (2488), Guo Qi (2417), average rating – 2499), and Georgia (Nana Dzagnidze (2533), Nino Batsiashvili (2468), Lela Javakhishvili (2447), Bela Khotenashvili (2452), Salome Melia (2393), average rating – 2459).

Their opponents are the teams from India (2417), Poland (2415), Ukraine (2406), Azerbaijan (2329), the United States of America (2325), Vietnam (2323), and Egypt (1994).

Teams

The championships will be played using a 9 round, round-robin system. Each team will play a match against all other teams. Colours and starting numbers will be drawn at the Opening Ceremony on June 16.

Time control for the event is 90 min/40 moves + 30 min/end, with 30 seconds additional time per move, starting from move 1.

The match days: June 17-21 and June 23-26. June 22 is the tournament's free day. The games start at 1:00 p.m. (Moscow time), the last round begins at 11:00 a.m. (Moscow time). 

The venue is the Ugra Chess Academy, a modern building located in the city center. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies will take place at the Concert and Theatre Center Ugra-Classic.

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