Chennai: India is hosting the biggest Chess Olympiad in the history of the game. A total of 186 countries are participating in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai. Pairings for Round 1 are announced and Indian teams are clearly the favourites.
India has fielded a total of six teams, three in the open and three in the women’s section. India A, captained by GM Srinath Narayanan and led by GM Harikrishna Pentala will face Zimbabwe in the first round, while in the open section India A, captained by GM Abhijit Kunte and led by GM Koneru Humpy, will face Tajikistan.
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India A is seeded 2nd after the USA in the open section, while the women’s A team is the top-seeded team. On the other hand, in both the open and women’s sections, India B and India C are seeded 11th and 16th respectively. India won a bronze in the FIDE Online Olympiad 2021 and will look to win the gold medal in both sections.
The games begin at 3:00 pm IST on 29 July. The games will be live streamed on the YouTube channel of FIDE, with official commentary by GM Judit Polgar and GM Mihail Marin. Apart from that, Chess.com, Chessbase India and Chess24 will also stream the games on their respective YouTube channels.
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The 2022 edition of the Chess Olympiad officially got underway on Thursday, 28 July, with a mesmerising opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugrated the grand event. Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi and Chief Minister MK Stalin, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and actor Rajnikanth were among the dignitaries present at the event.
India is hosting the Chess Olympiad for the first time, while this also happens to be the first edition since 1986 which will be played in an Asian country. Performances by musicians and percussionists were among the highlights of the opening ceremony.
