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The 40th Chess Olympiad is scheduled to take place in the Turkish metropole of Istanbul, from August 27 to September 10th, 2012. The Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation. The previous Olympiad was held in 2010 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the next will be in Tromsø, Norway. The first was held in Paris, France, in 1924, with 16 nations participating. The last Olympiad had 143 nations, 1294 competitors, and included no fewer than 254 grandmasters, 65 WGMs, 159 IMs, and 90 WIMs. This time the organisers are expecting even more.
Arrival in Istanbul by air, with a view of the geographic border between
Europe and Asia
The WOW Hotel and Convention Center where the Olympiad is being held
Monday evening: the first item on the agenda was the technical meeting
convened in
the Convention Hall of the WOW Hotel.
The Chief Arbiter IA Panagiotis Nikolopoulos
158 teams are registered for this Olympiad, of whom 128 attended the meeting
Some important announcements:
The opening ceremony in the WOW Convention Center started with a rich and colorful cultural program, which included the often extremely vigorous traditional Turkish dances. They were performed in front of a giant backdrop projection and accompanied by very intensely amplified music. Here are our impressions without comments.
Filming all the action with her smartphone: Women's World Champion Hou Yifan
The Chinese teams, who are in contention for medals in both sections
Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yazici, FIDE President Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov, and the Minister of Youth and Sports Suat Kilic greet the participants.
Ali Nihat Yazici thanked the government, the Minstry of Youth and Sports, the FIDE leadership, the city management and Mayor of Istanbul, and the sponsors for the essential support for the 2012 Olympiad. He said that chess is highly developed now in Turkey and the number of chess players exceeds 235,000, with additional 60,000 chess trainers and coaches working in the chess clubs.
The FIDE President Kirsan Ilymzhinov: "The representatives of 158 national chess federations have arrived to Istanbul to participate in the prestigious Tournament of Nations. This is the new record in the Olympiad's history. The players will demonstrate their skill and strength of character in tense matches for the main team trophy in chess: the Cups of Hamilton-Russell, Vera Menchik and Nona Gaprindashvili. I would like to express our sincere gratitude for holding the event on such high level. This Olympiad is another confirmation of high authority of the Turkish chess school."
In the end there was the drawing of colors for round one, which resulted in the top seeded team in the open section, Russia, getting black on the first board, and the top seed team in the women section, China, getting white.
Photos from the official web site and Frederic Friedel
There will be live commentary of the most interesting games on Playchess.com, beginning around half an hour after the games have started
27 August 2012 | Arrival, Opening | Playchess commentary |
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28 August 2012 | 15.00 | 1st Round | Reeh/Müller |
29 August 2012 | 15.00 | 2nd Round | Daniel King |
30 August 2012 | 15.00 | 3rd Round | Valery Lilov |
31 August 2012 | 15.00 | 4th Round | Daniel King |
1 September 2012 | 15.00 | 5th Round | Lawrence Trent |
2 September 2012 | Free Day | ||
3 September 2012 | 15.00 | 6th Round | Daniel King |
4 September 2012 | 15.00 | 7th Round | Yasser Seirawan |
5 September 2012 | 15.00 | 8th Round | Daniel King |
6 September 2012 | 15.00 | 9th Round | Yasser Seirawan |
7 September 2012 | 15.00 | 10th Round | Yasser Seirawan |
8 September 2012 | Free Day | ||
9 September 2011 | 11.00 | 11th Round, Closing | Daniel King |
10 September 2011 | Departure |
Some hours after the end of each round we will be posting video summaries by Daniel King on our news page. If possible they will appear on the same night, otherwise early the next morning. We also expect best-game video commentary from Andrew Martin.
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Links |
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2012 Chess Olympiad: Women's Teams in Istanbul |
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2012 Chess Olympiad: teams and players |
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Kramnik and Klitschko: heavyweight preparation 25.08.2012 – The chess Olympiad starts on Monday, the teams will be swarming into Istanbul from their various training camps. One of the players had a somewhat unusual session: Vladimir Kramnik spent some days in Austria with his old friend and WBA Heavyweight Boxing Champion Vitali Klitschko, who himself was preparing for a tough match. We bring you a photo report of the unusual training session. |
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2012 Istanbul Chess Olympiad preview 21.08.2012 – After the London 2012 Olympics, in which we saw a number of records fall with participants from 204 nations, the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, should be no less impressive. Players hailing from over 160 countries are expected. The official website is already up with a list of the many teams and their makeups, and expect to enjoy photos and videos as well. Here is a preview. |
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Istanbul Chess Olympiad – Turkish teams youngest ever 20.06.2012 – At a Chess Olympiad the host nation has the right to field three teams. Typically the third team will have 2500+ GMs. Not so in Istanbul, where the Turkish Chess Federation is giving youngsters a chance. The average age in the third Open Category team is – 8.2 years! They may get clobbered by the likes of Morozevich and Grischuk in the first round, but watch them playing lesser countries. |
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Chess Olympiad in Istanbul – officials from seven countries
banned 09.06.2012 – At a recent FIDE meeting the Turkish Chess Federation, which is host to the 40th Chess Olympiad, was given a list of arbiters for the event. TCF President Ali Nihat Yazici rejected any officials from seven countries – England, France, Georgia, Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA – for supporting court cases against FIDE and causing financial damage. The affected federations have protested. |
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Chess Olympiad in Istanbul – official web site up 06.04.2012 – The 40th Chess Olympiad is scheduled to take place in the Turkish metropole of Istanbul, from August 27 to September 10th, 2012. With just over four months to go the national federations will have to make haste with the arrangements. The official web site, launched this week, provides information on rules, travel and accommodation. Details, contacts, videos. |