The Chess Olympiad is a biennial tournament in which involves national teams competing.
The Olympiad is held for the first time in India in Mamallapuram, Chennai and is scheduled from July 28 to August 8.
The star-studded US team led by World Championship challenger Fabiano Caruana is numbers ahead in terms of average rating with Elo 2771 while India seeded second with Elo 2696.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen’s Team Norway is third seed at Elo 2692 followed by Spain (Elo 2687), Poland (Elo 2683) and Azerbaijan (Elo 2680).
The open section of the tournament is being contested by a record number of 188 teams, representing 186 nations. India, as host country, fields three teams.
Competition format
The tournament is being played in a Swiss system format. The time control for all games is 90 minutes per 40 moves with additional 30 minutes after the 40th move, while the increment is 30 seconds per move.
It is allowed for a player to offer a draw at any time during the game. A total of 11 rounds will be played, in which every team is playing with four of their players against another team. Every team is allowed to nominate one reserve player.
Teams are ranked according to the match points won in every round. In case of same number of match points by two or more teams, the tie-breaker is decided by applying: 1. The Sonneborn-Berger system; 2. Total game points scored; 3. Sum of the match points of the opponents, excluding the lowest one.
Women’s tournament
The Women's event is being contested by a record number of 162 teams, representing 160 nations. India, as host nation, fields three teams.
The women's tournament is short of seven out of the ten top players according to the FIDE rating list published in July 2022, with only the Muzychuk sisters—former Women's World Champion Mariya and Anna—and Nana Dzagnidze participating.
The highest rated player in the world Hou Yifan, the current Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun and the former Women's World Champion Tan Zhongyi are missing the Olympiad due to China's withdrawal, whereas former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and top-ten rated Alexandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno do not play because of Russia's suspension.
Former Women's World Champions Anna Ushenina is playing for her native Ukraine.
