44th Chess Olympiad opens in Chennai

The 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 opens today in Chennai, India gathering 350 teams from 190 countries. The Opening ceremony of the event starts today at 19:00 (local time) and the first round starts tomorrow at 15:00 (local time).

The Opening press ceremony was held today in the presence of FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, AICF President Dr Sanjay Kapoor, Olympiad director Mr Bharat Singh Chauhan and chief commentator Judit Polgar.

The 2022 Chess Olympiad will be played from 29th July – 9th August, in 11 rounds, swiss system, with 188 teams in the Open section and 162 teams in Women’s section breaking a participation record previously set at the 2018 Batumi Chess Olympiad.

The top seeds of the Open tournament are: USA (Average rating of players 2771), India (Average rating of players 2696), Norway (Average rating of players 2692), Spain (Average rating of players 2687) and Poland (Average rating of players 2683).

Team India (with an average rating of players 2486) will headline the Women’s event, followed by Ukraine (Average rating of players 2478), Georgia (Average rating of players 2475), Poland (Average rating of players 2423) and France (Average rating of players 2400).

Starting rank lists and teams compositions can be found here.

The event will be played at the Four Points by Sheraton Mahabalipuram Resort and Convention center as the official venue of the event.

Official website