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We saw some great fighting chess from September 24th to October 5th at the Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018. Right until the final game ended we were not sure who had won the event. In the open section China, USA and Russia tied with the same points on the top — 18/22 — while in the women's section it was China and Ukraine with 18/22. It was the Sonneborn Berger (SB) which would break the ties between the teams. Caissa smiled upon China and they won the gold medal in both the sections! A great moment indeed for Chinese chess.
| Rk. | Team | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 |
| 1 | China | CHN | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| 2 | United States of America | USA | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Russia | RUS | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| 4 | Poland | POL | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 17 |
| 5 | England | ENG | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 17 |
| Rk. | Team | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 |
| 1 | China | CHN | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 18 |
| 2 | Ukraine | UKR | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 18 |
| 3 | Georgia 1 | GEO1 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 17 |
| 4 | Russia | RUS | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 16 |
| 5 | Hungary | HUN | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 16 |
The closing ceremony was held at the Batumi Art and Musical Centre. It was a jam-packed hall with people standing in the balconies to get a glimpse of the grand show! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Some amazing Georgian dances were on display at the closing ceremony | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Traditional Georgian singers in between the Olympiad logos! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Chinese women's team and support staff share the frame with two former Women's World Champion Zhu Chen and Maia Chiburdanidze | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The most adorable chess couple in the town! Sopiko Guramishvili (left) who was commentating at the event and Anish Giri, who won the individual bronze medal on board one | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The Poles fought at the Olympiad like true warriors and beat USA and Russia. However, at the end they had to settle for the fourth spot. Of course, they were not happy to return home without a medal, yet like true gentlemen, they kept smiles on their faces. | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The President of the Georgian chess Federation Giorgi Giorgadze with his wife. Did you know Giorgi is a strong grandmaster? He has a FIDE Elo of 2584! | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Although Arkadij Dvorkovich won the FIDE presidential elections, he has apparently maintained good relations with his competitor Georgios Makropolous. On the right is newly re-elected ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili. As you can see from the picture, the Olympiad had ended but his work had not! | Photo: Niklesh Jain
A great chess player, a competent chess arbiter, and a prominent chess administrator, Oleg Romanishin (left), Olexandr Prohorov (centre), Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The top performers on board five: Bronze (right): FM Jennifer Yu and GM Christian Bauer; Silver (left): WGM Olga Girya and GM Ilya Smirin; Gold (centre): WFM Alshaeby Boshra and GM Anton Korobov | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The top performers on board four: Bronze (right): GM Bela Khotenashvili and GM Rauf Mamedov; Silver (left): WGM Lei Tingjei and GM Bu Xiangzhi; Gold (centre): Marina Brunello and GM Daniel Fridman | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The top performers on board three: Bronze (right): IM Ana Matnadze and GM Kacper Piorun; Silver (left): WGM Huang Qian and GM Vladimir Kramnik; Gold (centre): WIM Khanim Balajayeva and GM Cori Jorge | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The top performers on board two: Bronze (right): GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM Teimour Radjabov; Silver (left): GM Irina Krush and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi; Gold (centre): GM Mariya Muzychuk and GM Nguyen Ngoc Truongson | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The top performers on board one: Bronze (right): GM Nana Dzagnidze and GM Anish Giri; Silver (left): GM Hoang Thanh Trang and GM Fabiano Caruana; Gold (centre): GM Ju Wenjun and GM Ding Liren | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The board prizes at the closing ceremony captured in the video
The two best chess players of this entire Olympiad were GM Cori Jorge, who had a rating performance of 2925 and Ju Wenjun who performed at an Elo of 2661. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Open section had 184 teams. There are five sections and hence each section from A to E has 37 teams (184/5). In the women's section we have 151 teams and hence there are 30 teams in each section. These are the teams that performed better than all other teams in their category.
Kosovo won the top prize in the E-group (women's section)
South Sudan won the top prize in the E-group (open section) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
El Salvador took home the gold medal in the D-group (women's section) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Afghanistan won the top prize in the D-group (open section) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The team from Kyrgyzstan won the gold medal in the C group (women's section) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The team of Ecuador won the top prize in the C-group (open section) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The young team of Uzbek women created the sensation of the tournament when they beat Russia in the second round. They won the gold medal in the B-group. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Egypt won the top prize in the B-group (open section) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Russian women could have easily won the silver by beating China in the final round, but they drew a completely won match and instead had to settle for the top prize in the A category | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Poland missed out on the medal by a whisker. They had to be content with the Group A prize for their fourth-place finish (open section) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Top three teams in the open section: China (gold, centre), USA (silver, left), Russia (bronze, right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Top three teams in the women's section: China (gold, centre), Ukraine (silver, left), Georgia 1 (bronze, right) | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The medal ceremony caught on video!
Juga is a singer and songwriter. She has composed a song on chess named "Oh Capablanca". It was thoroughly enjoyed by the spectators! ChessBase recently got an exclusive sneak peak at a new acoustic version.
The Chinese team with the Nona Gaprindashvili Cup which is awarded to the country that has the highest cumulative score between the men's and women's team. China scored 18+18 = 36. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Georgian team thrilled with their bronze medal! Five players with GM Evgeny Romanov (behind the players), GM Elizbar Ubilava and GM Zurab Sturua | Photo: Amruta Mokal
That's what everyone was playing for! | Photo: Niklesh Jain
The power couple: WGM Huang Qian with GM Bu Xiangzhi. Both of them had decided to work together with the black pieces. Huang played nine games with the black pieces. Bu was also slated to play a majority of the games with black pieces, but then was given white as Li Chao and Wei Yi were not doing so well. For Bu and Li this was the first gold medal. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Ding Liren quickly checks "WeChat" to see if he has received any more congratulatory messages before going on stage to get another medal! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Li Chao is definitely thrilled with his medal in this selfie with WGM Zhang Jilin, who scored 7/9 for the Australian team at the Women's Olympiad | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Lei Tingje with Huang Qian | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Olympiad gives players from lesser known countries to mingle with the best in the business! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The ceremony of passing over the right to Khanty Mansiysk to hold the next FIDE World Chess Olympiad in 2020 | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Arkadij Dvorkovich's address at the closing ceremony of the Batumi Olympiad 2018, the new FIDE President's first address to the chess community
The Batumi Olympiad was excellently organized by the Georgian Chess Federation. We hope that you enjoyed our coverage and we will look forward to treating you with similar or higher quality content from Khanty Mansiysk 2020! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
