The 40th Chess Olympiad is scheduled to take place in the Turkish metropole of Istanbul, from August 27 to September 10th, 2012. A record of 158 national chess federations have brought teams to Istanbul to participate in this prestigious event, which is being staged in the WOW Hotel and Convention Center, just minutes away from the airport.

FIDE press conference

In a press conference – above with press chief Anastasya Karlovich, TCF President Ali Nihat Yazici, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos and translator Polina Tsedenova – Ilyumzhinov thanked the Government of Turkey, the city municipality of Istanbul, the Turkish Chess Federation and its President, "my brother Ali Nihat Yazici," for the brilliant organization of the Olympiad in Istanbul. He also revealed that there were three federations that would like to have the 2016 Olympiad: the Bulgarian CF, which would like to stage it in Albena City, the Azerbaijan Federation in Baku and the Estonian CF with Tallin.

Georgios Makropoulos said that there had been a lot of problems which the organizers that FIDE had to face. "But we made it come true. No Olympiad, not even the Olympic Games, went on purely smoothly. All of them have some problems to solve. But the Organizing Committee team that works under the leadership of the FIDE Vice President Ali Nihat Yazici did their best to organize the Olympiad on a very high level."

Ali Nihat Yazici: "What I would like to say is that Turkey is becoming a chess country. More and more chess players come to the chess family and play chess. Some years ago we could not dream that children at school would have a chance to learn how to play chess. Now we have a lot of children who are fascinated by this game. And we are very proud of it. They will become professional lawers, teachers, journalists, politicians, and they will be very smart thanks to chess game. We dream to be a chess country like Russia. We still have a lot to work on, but we are much closer to this target."

When asked by a journalist whether he was going to continue his Presidency in the Turkish Chess Federation Yazici replied: "I have been elected as a President of the Turkish Chess Federation three times already. I think this is enough. I am sure that the next President will be more active, more productive and more successful. I am going to continue my work as a FIDE Vice President, and to develop chess in schools program if the President allows me to."

To which Kirsan Ilyumzhinov added: "We will not let Ali leave chess and FIDE at all. Eight years ago he started his work as a Chairman of Chess in Schools committee and there is a lot of progress since then. We are sure that chess will be more promoted in schools in many countries and our target is to reach the number of one billion chess players on this planet. With the help of my brother Ali, we will make it."

Apology

Ali Nihat Yazici: "As organisers of 40th Chess Olympiad, we try to do our best, to make you follow this great event in the best level. However, today, we have had many mistakes in live transmission, including the Thailand-Turkey match. Although it is not the mistake of TCF, I apology on behalf of FIDE and TCF and I promise you we will do our best and tomorrow you will not have this mistake. Tune us!"

Photos: Tournament web site

Video coverag of the first round

Links Official event web site All available games in PGN All ChessBase reports on the Olympiad The top games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.