Explanation | Chess Olympiad: Origins of the event, rules and India’s rise to prominence and host | So Good News

Story so far: India 1 women’s team continues to shine despite losing to Poland on day nine of the 44th Chess Olympiad. In the open category, India B has overtaken India — both currently ranked 2nd and 4th respectively. The leading women’s team has now dropped to second place.

After the 9th round, Uzbekistan leads with 16 points, India 2 (15), Armenia (also 15), India (14) and Netherlands (also 14), according to the official FIDE ranking.

The 44th edition of FIDE 2022 Chess Olympiad is currently being held for the first time in India. The event, which began on July 29, is being held at the Four Points by Sheraton Mamallapuram Resort and Convention Center in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and will conclude on August 10. With Russia and China out of the event, India with its large contingent is targeting the thirty-player event bag.

History of Chess Olympiad

Founded in Paris in 1924, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) organizes the biennial Chess Olympiad with the host country and several other sponsors. The first official event was organized by Great Britain in London in 1927, with Hungary winning the gold medal, followed by Denmark and England.

Since then, the event has been hosted by European countries until the United Arab Emirates hosted the 27th edition in Dubai in 1986. The other Asian countries to host the event are the Philippines (1992) and China (2021 – virtual), Turkey/Turkey (2000), Azerbaijan (2016) and Russia (1956, 1994, 1998, 2010) in addition to Eurasian countries. Russia was due to host the 2022 championships, but FIDE moved the event to Chennai after Moscow invaded neighboring Ukraine.

Chess players from different countries participate in the first day of the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad on July 29, 2022 in Mamallapuram, near Chennai | Photo Credit: JYOTHI RAMALINGAM B

The Olympics will be held in the Swiss format of 11 rounds, in which teams from two countries (four players and one reserve) compete against each other in four respective boards. After ninety minutes of each game, players are allowed thirty minutes after the 40th minute. Each team gets one game point for a win, 0.5 game point for a draw and zero points for a loss. The team with the most game points at the end of the game is awarded two match points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The ranking of the playing nations is based on match points and the first place champion is named.

Back: Viswanathan Anand, right, recovers before winning ‘R. | Photo credit: Lennart Ootes

India’s performance in Chess Olympiads

The modern game of chess originated from an ancient Indian war game called Chaturanga, played in the 7th century. ^th century. Similar to the current game, different pieces in ‘Chaturanga’ have different powers and victory is based on the king. This game evolved into “Chetrange” which has been widely played in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and South Central Asia since 600 AD.

Screenshot of Chaturangam released by the Pudukottai District Administration for the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad – depicting the dance. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARANJINA

After gaining independence from the British Raj, India first participated in the FIDE Chess Olympiad held in Moscow in 1956, finishing 27th. Since then, India has improved its performance, winning bronze in 2014, gold in 2020 and bronze in 2021. Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was almost entirely canceled in 2020 and 2021.

In 2020, India and Russia were co-champions as the outcome of both games in the second final match was due to a net outage on Cloudflare’s servers. Both Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh have filed complaints with FIDE regarding communication issues. In 2021, India won the bronze medal, losing to the USA. India currently has 74 grandmasters – the highest title given to a player by FIDE – most of them under the age of 20 – and 125 international masters.

GM Harika Dronavalli from India with the team playing on Day 5 of the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mamallapuram on August 2, 2022. | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ B

India, which is hosting the event this year, is second only to the US in the Open category. The Open team led by Srinath Narayanan included Harikrishna Pentala, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Erigaisi Arjun, S.L. Narayanan and Sasikiran Krishnan are included. The A open B team consists of Nihal Sarin, Gukesh D, Adhiban B, Pragnanandhaa R and Sadwani R. The top-seeded women’s A team includes Koneru Hampi, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali R, Tanya Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni. Team B includes Vantika A, Soumya S, Mary Ann Gomez, Padmini Root and Divya Deshmukh. Abhijit Kunte is the captain of India A team.

Being the hosts, India were allowed to field three teams in each category. The open C team includes Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Karthikeyan Murali, SP Sethuraman, Abhijeet Gupta and Abhimanyu Puranik and the women’s C team includes Esha Karavade, M Varshini Saiti, Pratyusha Bodda, PV Nandhidhaa and Varsha Vasnawala. The teams are coached by five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand.

Indian chess grandmaster Pragnanandhaa will play on Day 2 of the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mamallapuram on Saturday. | Photo credit: Ravindran R

Height of India

FIDE’s 2022 Chess Olympiad host Russia came to a standstill when it invaded Ukraine in February, threatening the event. When FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich began looking for a new host, All India Chess Federation (AICF) secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan told him that India was “open to hosting any chess event”. Within twenty-four hours, Mr. Chauhan confirmed that India would receive 44 ^th Chess Olympiad – brought this event to Asia after thirty years.

File photo of a digital chessboard on a player’s table during the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, near Chennai | Photo Credit: JYOTHI RAMALINGAM B

Deploying 37 IAS officers, Tamil Nadu has sanctioned Rs 92 crore to host the Olympics and has chosen the coastal city of Mamallapuram, which has historical and archaeological value. Hall 2, which has the largest number of boards, was erected in just forty days. Olympic mascot ‘Thambi’ was unveiled recently and a few days before the event, music director AR Rahman released the ‘Chess Anthem’ featuring Chennai’s Napier Bridge, decorated to look like a chessboard.

Ready for play Chennai’s Napier Bridge has been painted like a checkerboard ahead of the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad to be held from July 28 at Mamallapuram near the city. Photo Credit: RAGUNATHAN SR

Inaugurating the event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the DMK government’s speed in organizing the event and reiterated Tamil Nadu’s historical connection to chess – Lord Saturanga Vallabhanathar – an incarnation of Lord Shiva, who is considered an expert in chess. Mr. Stalin pointed out that 36 per cent of Indian grandmasters are from Tamil Nadu, which is why Chennai is known as the ‘Chess Capital of India’.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen holding the Chess Olympiad torch along with Tamil Nadu President CM MK Stalin and former Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand at the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad. Also in the frame is R. Pragnanandhaa, s. Vijayalakshmi, D Gukesh – All Grandmasters at the opening ceremony of the Chess Olympiad at Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai on 28 July 2022. | Photo credit: B. Jyoti Ramalingam/ The Hindu

A total of 1,400 players from 187 countries are competing on 700 boards at the Four Points by Sheraton Mamallapuram Resort and Convention Center in the temple city.