The 44th Chess Olympiad organised by the International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation (FIDE) and comprising open and women's tournaments, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, will be held in Chennai, India from 28 July to 10 August 2022. 

This will be the first Chess Olympiad to take place in India. The event was initially supposed to take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, along with the Chess World Cup 2019, but was moved to Moscow and scheduled for the period from 5 to 17 August 2020. However, it was postponed as a result of the growing concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic and finally relocated to Chennai following Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The total number of participants will be 1,736, with 937 in the Open and 799 in the Women's event. The number of registered teams is 188 from 186 nations in the Open section  and 162 from 160 nations in the Women's section. Both sections will expectedly set team participation records. The Chief Arbiter of the event will be France's International Arbiter Laurent Freyd.

Venue

The venue of the Chess Olympiad will be the convention Centre at the Four Points by Sheraton in Mahabalipuram near Chennai. Where as the opening ceremony will be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Torch relay

For the first time, a torch relay ceremony is conducted for the Chess Olympiads. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the torch to Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, who in turn handed it over to Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. The torch will be taken to 75 cities in 40 days before reaching Chennai.

Logo and mascot

In a ceremony held at Ripon Building on 9 June 2022,  Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. K. Stalin  launched the official logo and mascot for the 44th Chess Olympiad. The mascot is 'Thambi' ,a Chess Knight dressed in the traditional Tamil male attire Vēṭṭi with a white shirt and is seen with folded hands, apparently extending the Tamil greeting 'Vanakkam'.

Postage stamp

On 20 July 2022, a postage stamp dedicated to the 44th Chess Olympiad was unveiled during a ceremony celebrating the International Chess Day held in New Delhi

Chennai Chess Olympiad closing ceremony:

The 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 concluded on july 9 in Chennai with the Closing ceremony.

Altogether with the team Winners and medalists of the Chess Olympiad 2022, the best individual players per boards received special prizes and medals

Overview  about  winners:

 Open: Uzbekistan wins gold, Armenia silver, India B bronze.

Uzbekistan won the Open event and Ukraine claimed gold of the Women’s tournament.

Uzbekistan defeated Netherlands in the last round with a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory, while Armenia took a victory over Spain to join them on the top with 19 match points. Tiebreaks criteria determined Uzbekistan as the Winner, and Armenia came silver. India 2 clinched bronze with 18 match points.

 

Individual gold medals for D. Gukesh and Nihal Sarin, silver to Arjun Erigiasi and bronze to R. Praggnanandhaa underlined the phenomenal display of this teen-quartet in the premier competition

 

In the tense last round of the Women’s Chess Olympiad, India lost to USA dropping to the third place in the final rankings. Ukraine won their match against Poland with a convincing 3-1 result, while Georgia took a 3-1 victory over Azerbaijan to tie with Ukraine for the first place with 18 match points. Ukraine won the event with better tiebreak criteria, and Georgia came silver. India won bronze.

Gaprindashvili cup came to the federation with the best sum of the results of the open and women’s teams and it was India with 34 match points and best additional tiebreaks that lifted the trophy.

 

The best Board 1 player of the Women’s section according to the rating performance is legendary Swedish GM Pia Cramling with 9.5/11 points and 2532 rating performance.

 

GM Nino Batsiashvili was the best player of the second board with 7.5/10 points and performance of 2504. 

 

WIM Oliwia Kiolbasa won the gold medal as the best player of the third board with 9.5/11 points and 2565 rating performance.

 

 WCM Bat-Erdene Mungunzul was the best fourth board with performance of 2460 and 8.5/11 points. 

 

WGM Jana Schneider was the best individual reserve player (5th board) with 9/10 points and a performance of 2414. 

 

GM Gukesh D won gold medal as the best individual Board 1 player with 9/11 points and 2867 rating performance in Open section.

 

 GM Nihal Sarin was the best player of the Board 2 with 7.5/10 points and performance of 2774.

 

 GM David Howell scored 7.5/8 points and played with the performance of 2898 to win gold as the best individual player of the 3rd board.

 

 GM Jakhongir Vakhidov, the hero of the Uzbekistan team, is the best player of the Board 4 with 6.5/8 points and performance of 2813. 

 

GM Mateusz Bartel was the best reserve (5th board player) of the Open section with 8.5/10 points and 2778 rating performance.

 

The next edition of the FIDE Chess Olympiad will be held in Budapest in Hungary from 10 to 23 September 2024.