The 45th Chess Olympiad starts in two days in Budapest, Hungary! The event will be held from 10-23 September in BOK Sports Hall and Conference Center.
381 teams compete in the tournament, with 197 teams in Open section and 184 teams in the Women’s championship. Teams are made up of four players + one reserve player in both sections. The events will be played in 11 rounds, swiss system, with the time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, plus 30 minutes until the end of the game, with 30-second increment for each move starting from move one.
The top seeded teams in the Open section are: United States of America (Rating average of players 2757), India (Rating average of players 2753), China (Rating average of players 2724), Uzbekistan (Rating average of players 2690) and Netherlands (Rating average of players 2682).
Rating favourites in the Women’s competition are: India (Rating average of players 2467), Georgia (Rating average of players 2462), Poland (Rating average of players 2422), China (Rating average of players 2416) and Ukraine (Rating average of players 2400).
Starting lists can be found here.
The Opening Ceremony of the 45th Chess Olympiad will take place on Tuesday, 10th of September, starting at 18:00 (local time). The first round is scheduled for Wednesday, 11th of September, with the start at 15:00 (local time) and live games can be followed through the official website. Tournament schedule is available here.
The 45th Chess Olympiad features a variety of side events, including FIDE Congress which will take place from 17-22 September. The ECU General Assembly will be held on 19th of September. More information about the FIDE Congress can be found here.