Day Zero in Tromso

Day Zero

Today is August 1st, the first day of official activities in the 2014 Chess Olympiad! Most of the delegations are arriving today, though some (especially those that need to recover from jet-lagged and can afford to do so) arrived yesterday or the day before that.

Volunteers are meeting the delegations at the airport and taking them to their hotels

Tromso airport is probably not used to such influx of people!

The help desk at the airport is incredibly useful

One of the many view of Tromso

The weather is chilly but a jacket is sufficient to keep warm

Tromso is very small, which is good because you can walk almost everywhere

With the huge amount of people coming into Tromso some minor problems have popped up. The airlines have lost more than one player's luggage and there are long lines to obtain accreditation and food tickets. That being said it is running smoother than most people expected and nothing major has yet to happen. The city is breathtakingly beautiful and the people here are generally nice and speak near-perfect English.

Kasparov has posters everywhere announcing his campaign

The local sex shop has a special chess-themed discount!

Most of the players are staying in the city center, which is walking distance to the tournament. Unfortunately some are not, which will make their transportation to the tournament hall more complicated. The Radisson Blu is hosting many of the top teams and is a few minutes walk from where the action will take place. The hotels are very close to the sea. Strangely enough this has caused a complaint from a few players: the seagulls are very, very loud! Since there is no darkness in Tromso this time of the year it seems that they are just hyperactive constantly.

Some of the hotels in the center are very small, so players have to walk to other hotels for food. The Radisson is hosting three different hotels in their restaurant.

Food is served buffet-style

In a sufficiently spacious dining hall

Nothing unites chess players as much as playing sports, it seems, and soccer is usually the default go-to sport of choice. A small game was held right after lunch.

Fair play is only for over the board chess and FIFA events.

Four different federations participated in this game, plus some locals

After the game it was time to relax and get ready. Today the Opening Ceremony will inaugurate the tournament and the games will start from tomorrow. And what a tournament it will be! Just take a look at the top 30 player list:

Starting rank - Open

No.	Ti.	Name	Rtg	FED	Team	Bo.
1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2877	NOR	Norway	1
2	GM	Aronian Levon	2805	ARM	Armenia	1
3	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2801	ITA	Italy	1
4	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2795	RUS	Russia	2
5	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2787	USA	USA	1
6	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2786	RUS	Russia	3
7	GM	Topalov Veselin	2772	BUL	Bulgaria	1
8	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2768	FRA	France	1
9	GM	Dominguez Perez Leinier	2760	CUB	Cuba	5
10	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	2760	RUS	Russia	1
11	GM	Gelfand Boris	2753	ISR	Israel	1
12	GM	Svidler Peter	2751	RUS	Russia	4
13	GM	Giri Anish	2745	NED	Netherlands	1
14	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2744	UKR	Ukraine	3
15	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2743	AZE	Azerbaijan	2
16	GM	Ding Liren	2742	CHN	China	2
17	GM	Adams Michael	2740	ENG	England	1
18	GM	Leko Peter	2740	HUN	Hungary	3
19	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	2735	POL	Poland	1
20	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2724	AZE	Azerbaijan	4
21	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2723	UKR	Ukraine	4
22	GM	Bacrot Etienne	2720	FRA	France	2
23	GM	Wang Yue	2718	CHN	China	1
24	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	2717	UKR	Ukraine	2
25	GM	Navara David	2716	CZE	Czech Republic	1
26	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	2714	RUS	Russia	5
27	GM	Jobava Baadur	2713	GEO	Georgia	1
28	GM	Le Quang Liem	2710	VIE	Vietnam	1
29	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2709	GER	Germany	1
30	GM	Shirov Alexei	2709	LAT	Latvia	1
31	GM	Fressinet Laurent	2708	FRA	France	3
32	GM	Moiseenko Alexander	2707	UKR	Ukraine	1
33	GM	Kamsky Gata	2706	USA	USA	2
34	GM	Rapport Richard	2704	HUN	Hungary	5
35	GM	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	2700	UZB	Uzbekistan	1
36	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	2698	ESP	Spain	1
37	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2690	HUN	Hungary	1
38	GM	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	2689	GER	Germany	4
39	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2686	ARM	Armenia	2
40	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2681	BUL	Bulgaria	2
41	GM	Edouard Romain	2680	FRA	France	4
42	GM	Korobov Anton	2680	UKR	Ukraine	5
43	GM	Zhigalko Sergei	2678	BLR	Belarus	1
44	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2676	CZE	Czech Republic	2
45	GM	Polgar Judit	2676	HUN	Hungary	4
46	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2672	ARM	Armenia	3
47	GM	Rodshtein Maxim	2671	ISR	Israel	2
48	GM	Saric Ivan	2671	CRO	Croatia	1
49	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2669	IND	India	3
50	GM	Yu Yangyi	2668	CHN	China	3
51	GM	Ni Hua	2666	CHN	China	4
52	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2665	ENG	England	3
53	GM	Short Nigel D	2665	ENG	England	2
54	GM	Bruzon Batista Lazaro	2664	CUB	Cuba	1
55	GM	Tiviakov Sergei	2664	NED	Netherlands	3
56	GM	Granda Zuniga Julio E	2663	PER	Peru	1
57	GM	Van Wely Loek	2662	NED	Netherlands	2
58	GM	Gajewski Grzegorz	2659	POL	Poland	2
59	GM	Lenic Luka	2659	SLO	Slovenia	1
60	GM	Mamedov Rauf	2659	AZE	Azerbaijan	5
61	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2659	USA	USA	4
62	GM	Smirin Ilia	2656	ISR	Israel	3
63	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2655	ARM	Armenia	4
64	GM	Bologan Viktor	2654	MDA	Moldova	1
65	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2653	USA	USA	3
66	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	2653	VEN	Venezuela	3
67	GM	Sadler Matthew D	2653	ENG	England	5
68	GM	Postny Evgeny	2651	ISR	Israel	5
69	GM	Howell David W L	2650	ENG	England	4
70	GM	Kovalenko Igor	2650	LAT	Latvia	2
71	GM	Leitao Rafael	2649	BRA	Brazil	1
72	GM	Quesada Perez Yuniesky	2649	CUB	Cuba	2
73	GM	Safarli Eltaj	2649	AZE	Azerbaijan	3
74	GM	Meier Georg	2646	GER	Germany	2
75	GM	Negi Parimarjan	2645	IND	India	1
76	GM	Bachmann Axel	2644	PAR	Paraguay	1
77	GM	Banikas Hristos	2644	GRE	Greece	1
78	GM	Ragger Markus	2644	AUT	Austria	1
79	GM	Papaioannou Ioannis	2641	GRE	Greece	2
80	GM	Bartel Mateusz	2640	POL	Poland	4
81	GM	Fridman Daniel	2639	GER	Germany	3
82	GM	Van Kampen Robin	2638	NED	Netherlands	5
83	GM	Wei Yi	2638	CHN	China	5
84	GM	Balogh Csaba	2637	HUN	Hungary	2
85	GM	Hracek Zbynek	2634	CZE	Czech Republic	3
86	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	2634	VIE	Vietnam	2
87	GM	Solak Dragan	2632	TUR	Turkey	4
88	GM	L'ami Erwin	2631	NED	Netherlands	4
89	GM	Agdestein Simen	2630	NOR	Norway	2
90	GM	Cori Jorge	2630	PER	Peru	3
91	GM	Cordova Emilio	2629	PER	Peru	2
92	GM	Hammer Jon Ludvig	2628	NOR	Norway	3
93	GM	Amin Bassem	2627	EGY	Egypt	1
94	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2625	ROU	Romania	1
95	GM	Anton Guijarro David	2624	ESP	Spain	2
96	GM	Shankland Samuel L	2624	USA	USA	5
97	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2624	ISR	Israel	4
98	GM	Tkachiev Vladislav	2624	FRA	France	5
99	GM	Kovalyov Anton	2622	CAN	Canada	1
100	GM	Salgado Lopez Ivan	2620	ESP	Spain	3

List of all 889 players

Starting rank - Women

No.	Title	Name	Rtg	FED	Team	Bo.
1	GM	Hou Yifan	2661	CHN	China	1
2	WGM	Ju Wenjun	2559	CHN	China	3
3	GM	Muzychuk Anna	2555	UKR	Ukraine	1
4	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550	GEO	Georgia	1
5	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2540	RUS	Russia	1
6	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2531	RUS	Russia	3
7	IM	Muzychuk Mariya	2530	UKR	Ukraine	2
8	GM	Gunina Valentina	2524	RUS	Russia	2
9	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2521	IND	India	1
10	GM	Zhao Xue	2508	CHN	China	2
11	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2505	BUL	Bulgaria	1
12	GM	Cramling Pia	2500	SWE	Sweden	1
13	GM	Khotenashvili Bela	2494	GEO	Georgia	4
14	GM	Danielian Elina	2490	ARM	Armenia	1
15	GM	Ushenina Anna	2487	UKR	Ukraine	3
16	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	2485	HUN	Hungary	3
17	WGM	Girya Olga	2484	RUS	Russia	4
18	GM	Sebag Marie	2480	FRA	France	1
19	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2479	RUS	Russia	5
20	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2478	GEO	Georgia	2
21	IM	Melia Salome	2475	GEO	Georgia	3
22	GM	Krush Irina	2474	USA	USA	1
23	GM	Socko Monika	2470	POL	Poland	1
24	WGM	Tan Zhongyi	2468	CHN	China	4
25	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2468	UKR	Ukraine	4
26	IM	Zatonskih Anna	2466	USA	USA	2
27	IM	Paehtz Elisabeth	2464	GER	Germany	1
28	IM	Moser Eva	2456	AUT	Austria	1
29	WGM	Guo Qi	2453	CHN	China	5
30	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2453	ARM	Armenia	2
31	WGM	L'ami Alina	2446	ROU	Romania	2
32	IM	Batsiashvili Nino	2435	GEO	Georgia	5
33	IM	Bojkovic Natasa	2425	SRB	Serbia	1
34	IM	Alexandrova Olga	2424	ESP	Spain	2
35	WGM	Cori T. Deysi	2422	PER	Peru	1
36	IM	Peptan Corina-Isabela	2422	ROU	Romania	1
37	IM	Sachdev Tanya	2418	IND	India	2
38	IM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2410	MGL	Mongolia	1
39	IM	Ziaziulkina Nastassia	2407	BLR	Belarus	1
40	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	2404	ROU	Romania	3
41	IM	Houska Jovanka	2401	ENG	England	1
42	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2398	POL	Poland	2
43	WGM	Aulia Medina Warda	2397	INA	Indonesia	2
44	WGM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	2396	INA	Indonesia	1
45	IM	Vega Gutierrez Sabrina	2395	ESP	Spain	1
46	GM	Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan	2394	SCO	Scotland	1
47	IM	Karavade Eesha	2392	IND	India	3
48	GM	Peng Zhaoqin	2391	NED	Netherlands	1
49	WGM	Daulyte Deimante	2386	LTU	Lithuania	1
50	IM	Matnadze Ana	2385	ESP	Spain	3

List of all 682 players

Tune in tomorrow for live coverage of the Olympiad on www.playchess.com as Danny King will be having insightful thoughts on the first round of Tromso 2014!

All you need to know about the Olympiad

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