Chess Olympiad: USA, India and China the rating favourites

A chess celebration in Budapest

From 11 to 22 September, the Hungarian Chess Federation and the city of Budapest will host the 45th Chess Olympiad. Two tournaments will be held in parallel, an open Chess Olympiad and a Women's Chess Olympiad.

After FIDE was founded in Paris in 1924 on the sidelines of the Olympic Games, the Hungarian Chess Federation hosted the first FIDE team tournament in 1926, the forerunner of the Chess Olympiad, and won the competition. The tournament in London in 1927 is counted as the first official Chess Olympiad. The Hungarian team won the gold medal a year later, in 1928 in The Hague, as well as at the 1936 Chess Olympiad in Munich - which was not officially recognised - and finally at the 1978 Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires, where they broke the decades-long supremacy of the Soviet Union.

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However, as a result of the overall political situation following Russia's attack on Ukraine, no Russian teams are competing in Budapest. However, many top Russian players have left their home country and are taking part in the Chess Olympiad for other federations.

In the list of participants recently published by FIDE, the USA leads the field according to the average rating of the registered players, although Hikaru Nakamura, the current world number two, is missing. But even without Nakamura, the USA will be fielding five players with a rating over 2700 Elo.

The second place in the starting list is taken by India, which can (almost) also play with five players over 2700 Elo. Although Pentala Harikrishna is currently slightly below this limit, he is also an incredibly strong GM.

China in 2018

China also has a very strong team in third place in the seeding list. World Champion Ding Liren, who is no longer in top form after winning the title, is playing, though only on second board behind Wei Yi.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov

The top three teams are followed by the defending champions, Uzbekistan. Remarkably, the Uzbek federation has appointed Vladimir Kramnik as captain and coach, while the successful coach Ivan Sokolov is now coaching the Romanian team.

Three Asian teams in the top four of the starting list signalise that the focus of chess has now shifted to Asia.

Vincent Keymer, 2022

The German team with Vincent Keymer on board one is ranked tenth in the starting list, behind the Netherlands, Norway (with Magnus Carlsen), England (with Nikita Vitiugov on board one), Poland and Iran. The young and strong German team showed at the last European Championship that they can successfully compete for medals, but the competition here is much stronger.

Host nation Hungary was able to bring its top player Richard Rapport back to the Hungarian Federation and also reactivate Peter Leko. Sanan Sjugirov, who moved to Hungary from Russia, will also be playing.

Meanwhile, France will have to make do without Alireza Firouja and is number 13 in the starting list behind Ukraine.

Teams

...193 teams

Women's Olympiad

Georgia is the top seed in the Women's Olympiad. Georgia is competing with a very strong, well-rehearsed and experienced team. The Indian selection is also in second place in this tournament. Although Humpy Koneru is not taking part, the young players Vaishali and Divya Deshmuk, behind Harika Dronavalli, will add plenty of elite points to the Indian team's score.

Third in the seeding list is Poland, which has also been a firm favourite in women's team competitions for many years. China is actually the number one in international women's chess, but the Chinese have dispensed with their top stars for the Women's Chess Olympiad and instead nominated a young team with promising up-and-coming players. With them, China is number four on the starting list.

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Without Anna and Mariya Muzychuk and a few other top players, Ukraine enters as number five in the women's competition.

Teams

...181 teams

Links

• Full lineups on Chess-Results: Open | Women's
• Official website
• Budapest gets ready for the 2024 Chess Olympiad
• Chess Olympiad: Rapport will play for Hungary again - Leko too