The 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden begins on Wednesday

38th Chess Olympiad Dresden 2008 The City of Dresden, the German Chess Federation (DSB) and FIDE have the honour of inviting all FIDE member Federations around the world to participate in the 38th Chess Olympiad Dresden 2008 (12th-25th November 2008)  and the 79th FIDE Congress Dresden 2008 (17th-25th November 2008) which will take place in Dresden, Saxony, Germany.

The official schedule of the 38th Chess Olympiad will be as follows:

Participants

There will be more than 2,000 active participants at the Chess Olympiad in Dresen. With 152 registered nations Dresden surpasses the previous Olympiad 2006 in Turin with seven additional countries. There are a total of 275 teams, 156 in the main tournament, including a second German team, teams for the deaf, blind, and correspondence chess players. In the women's sections there are 119 teams. All of this makes the Chess Olympiad the sporting event with the second largest number of participating nations worldwide (after the Summer Olympics). In addition to the participants the organisers expect 1,500 visitors per day.

Special rules

Two unusual rules are being implemented in Dresden. The first says that no draws will be allowed before move 30 of a game. And the second, more radical, says that all players must be present at their boards at the starting time of each round. Anyone who is not there when the clocks are started will be immediately forfeited.

Floor plan of the Olympiad

Click to enlarge

The playing hall – on Tuesday still under preparation

Ahh, tables in place, so we are getting there...

And now, , 48 hours before the start, they have set up the sensor boards and clocks

The press center, where we will all be battling for LAN cables and bandwidth

Coverage

You can follow the Chess Olympiad on the special TV channel set up by the organisers, where matches, highlights, interviews and portraits are showsn 24 hours a day. To view the Chess Olympiad TV you need a Windows-based computer (Vista or XP), an updated version of the Windows Media Player and a two Mbit download Internet connection. You have to download a player at the site given on the official Olympiad site (click on the logo on the right). The broadcasts start shortly after the opening ceremony on Monday.

Live coverage on Playchess A selection of 32 games will be broadcast live on our chess server Playchess.com. There will also be live video interviews with players after their games. If you are not a member of the Playchess community (which as of Monday, November 8th 2008 had 307,966 registered users) you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. If you have ChessBase, Fritz or any Fritz-compatible program (Rybka, Hiarcs, Shredder) you can automatically access the server. All these programs come with a one-year subscription to Playchess. Note that if you have a trial account you may not be able to watch the games if too many registered members are logged in.

Links

• Official Olympiad web site
• All ChessBase reports on the Olympiad
• Full information on the teams and quotas, registration, travel, accommodation, the FIDE Congress, contacts, etc. can be found in our first report on the Olympiad