Chess Olympiad 2018 Batumi

The Chess Olympiads are a kind of World Team Championship, in which nearly all member federations of FIDE participate. Similar to the Olympic Games, players from all over the world come together in a festive international extravaganza.

The history of the World Chess Federation is closely linked to the Olympic ideal. On the margins of the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, the "Fédération Internationale des Échecs" (FIDE) was founded alongside a chess tournament. The first chess Chess Olympiad was in London in 1927. Initially, the event was held irregularly, but since 1950, it has taken place every two years.

This year the Georgian Chess Federation hosts the 43rd Chess Olympiad from September 25th to October 5th in the port city of Batumi on the Black Sea.

185 federations have registered for the open section and 151 federations for the parallel women's tournament. The competition's rounds are played as a match of four boards. Most teams travel with a fifth player / alternate. Around 1,600 players participate in all, making the Chess Olympiad one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

In 2018 the open tournament has as rating favourites the USA, Russia and China. In the Women's Olympiad, it is Russia, Ukraine and China.

playing hall

View into the hall of the Sports Palace | Photo: David Llada

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Speelman's Agony #86

11/4/2018 – This week Jon examines two games from the top scorer for Sri Lanka in the Batumi Chess Olympiad. As the coach of the team, he was impressed by the play of the youngest member, fifteen-year-old Harshana Thilakarathne (pictured). But continue sending in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account! | Photo: Panagoda Buddhi

The Game of the Week

10/17/2018 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 20:00 CEST (19:00 UT, 2 pm EDT). On this week's show: European Club Cup and Pavel Eljanov against Gerlev Meins.

The Power Play Show

10/17/2018 – Wednesday at 19:00 CEST (17:00 UT) Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer, plus Daniel will be looking at games from the Olympiad. Puzzle and the live video...

Endgame Magic with IM Lawrence Trent

10/16/2018 – English IM Lawrence Trent is back joining Karsten with endgames from Batumi. This week's show is live at 15:00 CEST (13:00 UTC; 9:00 AM EDT) and FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!

Looking back to Batumi: Wandering Kings

10/12/2018 – Kings that go walkabout on a full board are rare but charming. At the Chess Olympiad 2018 in Batumi such wandering kings could be admired in two interesting games. In Mamedov vs Shankland (pictured) the voyage of the king was defensive, in the game Hillarp Persson vs Laurusas, which won the brilliancy prize in Batumi, the white king joined a mating attack against the black king. Both games have historical predecessors. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The Game of the Week

10/10/2018 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 20:00 CEST (19:00 UT, 2 pm EDT). On this week's show: More excitement at the Olympiad! Featuring Caruana vs Mamedyarov!

The closing ceremony that rocked Batumi

10/8/2018 – The closing ceremony of the Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018 was a power-packed one. Prizes were not only given to the top three performing teams and their players, but there were so many other medals, including individual board medals and also gold medals for teams in Groups A to E. We bring you videos, photos and descriptions to give you a feel for how wonderfully this closing ceremony was conducted. | Pictured: The Chinese men and women's team took the front two rows in the auditorium | Photos: Amruta Mokal

Simon Says — More Olympiad highlights

10/8/2018 – In this Simon Says, Simon takes a look at the most interesting games from the second half of the Olympiad. Simon is live this week, so tune in at 18:00 CEST (16:00 UT / Noon EDT) for free access to this popular ChessBase show, or try a Basic ChessBase account for on-demand replay. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

How China conquered the Batumi Olympiad 2018 with a double gold

10/6/2018 – The excitement levels had gone off the charts for the final round of the Batumi Olympiad 2018. The strongest teams were fighting against each other to decide who would take gold. USA and China were pitted against each other in the open section and China and Russia faced off against each other in the women's. The matches ended in 2-2 draws with a lot of drama surrounding them. The tiebreaks favoured China in both the sections and they went home with a double gold! In the Open, the USA took the silver and Russia the bronze while in the Women's Ukraine had to be content with silver, and bronze went to Georgia's first team. Full report from Batumi by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

The election of Arkady Dvorkovich

10/5/2018 – We present the highlights and analysis of an extraordinary day in Batumi: The FIDE General Assembly convened Wednesday in Batumi, in a hotly contested presidential election that was closer than it has been in decades, but not as close as expected, with many delegates still undecided right up until the end. It will be a new chapter in the history of FIDE as the reign of Greek International Master Georgios Makropoulos draws to a close after 103 federation delegates voted in favour of the Russian Arkady Dvorkovich. Nigel Short, who made a dramatic last-minute endorsement of Dvorkovich, was later appointed to be one of several Vice-Presidents. | All photos: David Llada / batumi2018.fide.com

Chess Olympiad LIVE: Double-gold for China

10/5/2018 – Closing ceremony, top Round 11 matches, final standings and commentary from the 43rd World Chess Olympiad taking place in Batumi, in the Republic of Georgia. China took gold in the Open followed by the USA (silver) and Russia (bronze), all tied on match points. In the Women's it was China and Ukraine with gold and silver, with Georgia taking the clear bronze. All Round 11 matches at live.chessbase.com

Batumi Olympiad Round 10: The mega duel China vs USA will decide the gold!

10/5/2018 – It's the finale of the 43rd World Chess Olympiad 2018 and we couldn't have asked for a better match-up. It's USA versus China in the open section to decide who takes home the gold and China against USA in the women's section on the top board! The strongest of teams have been paired against each other and it is extremely difficult to predict who will take home the three medals at stake. It's final rounds like these that make a tournament like Olympiad exciting! Round 10 report from Batumi, Georgia.
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