Chennai: A total of 213 teams from over 100 countries including Ukraine, have registered to compete in the 44th Chess Olympiad to be held at Mahabalipuram, said an official of All India Chess Federation (AICF).
“Till now 115 teams in the open category and 98 teams in the women’s category from over 100 countries have registered to play in the upcoming Chess Olympiad. The names of the players are not known,” secretary, AICF and Olympiad tournament director, Bharat Singh Chauhan told IANS.
Chauhan said major chess playing countries like USA, Norway, Netherlands and Ukraine have confirmed their participations in the Olympiad. The Olympiad will be held between July 28 and August 10.
Owing to the military action against Ukraine, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) has banned Russia and Belarus from competing in the event. Based on the rating averages of their top five players, USA tops the table with 2,766 and is followed by China (2,739), Azerbaijan (2,700), India Team 1 (2,683) and Ukraine (2,681).
India will field four teams, two in the open and two in the women’s section, and the names of the players have been announced.
This apart, India has started the process of selecting one more team in case a situation arises of fielding an additional team based on an odd number of entries.
The AICF said the additional team will be selected based on following criteria on June 28 2022:
(a) Average Rating of as on – June 1 2022, May 1 20 22 and April 1 2022.
(b) The player needs to play at least nine games in the last six months
Alongside the event, the International Chess Federation will hold its Congress between July 31 and August 9. The Meeting of the General Assembly will take place on August 7-8, when the elections will be completed.
According to FIDE, the elections will take place for President and Deputy President (on a joint ticket), Vice President, Zonal President, a member of the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission and a member of Constitutional Commission.
Enyonam Sewa Fumey, of Togolese Republic has announced his decision to contest for the post of FIDE President against the incumbent Arkady Dvorkovich.
Fumey has announced that his Deputy-President would be FIDE Master (FM) Stuart Fancy, a resident of Papua New Guinea.
(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at v.jagannathan@ians.in
