The 43rd Chess Olympiad (, 43-e sach’adrak’o olimp’iada; also known as the Batumi Chess Olympiad), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE). It consisted of two main tournaments—an Open event, enabling participation of players from all genders, and a Women's event, enabling participation of female players only—as well as several events to promote chess. It was an international team chess event held in Batumi, Georgia, from 23 September to 6 October 2018. This was the first Chess Olympiad to take place in Georgia with the Georgian Chess Federation also hosting the Chess World Cup 2017 in Tbilisi.
The total number of participants was 1,667, with 920 in the Open and 747 in the Women's event. The number of registered teams was 185 from 180 nations in the Open section and 151 from 146 nations in the Women's section. Both sections set team participation records. The main venue of the Chess Olympiad was Sport Palace Batumi, while the opening ceremony took place in the Black Sea Arena and the closing ceremony was held in the Batumi State Music Centre. The Chief Arbiter of the event was Greece's International Arbiter Takis Nikolopoulos.
China won the gold medal in both the Open and Women's event. This was the first time since 1986 that one country united the titles and China became the second nation to do so after the former Soviet Union. China won their second gold medal in the Open event after they had previously claimed their first title in 2014 and defended their title won in 2016 to claim their sixth title overall in the Women's event. Peruvian player Jorge Cori, who played on the third board, was the best individual player in the Open event by scoring 7½ out of 8 points (seven wins and one draw) with a performance rating of 2925. Chinese reigning Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun, playing on the first board, was the best individual player in the Women's event by scoring 7 out of 9 points (five wins and four draws), with a performance rating of 2661.
The 89th FIDE Congress also took place during the event at which Russian politician and economist Arkady Dvorkovich was elected new President of FIDE following Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's withdrawal because of the United States Department of the Treasury's sanctions imposed against him for his alleged support to the Syrian government in the Syrian Civil War.
Bidding process The bidding procedure for the 43rd Chess Olympiad and the FIDE Congress in connection with a possible bid for the Chess World Cup 2017 was opened in September 2013. Each city interested to host the event had to submit their bid to FIDE by 31 March 2014. The bids were to guarantee that all necessary provisions in accordance with the Olympiad Regulations of the FIDE Handbook would be covered by the organiser, including articles 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 pertaining to the organising committee, finances, and provision of amenities and stipends, respectively. FIDE received bids to host the events from the national federations of Georgia and South Africa. South Africa proposed Sun City as candidate city to host the Chess World Cup and Cape Town for the Chess Olympiad, while Georgia proposed Tbilisi to host the Chess World Cup and Batumi for the Chess Olympiad. Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov expressed support for the South African bid during his FIDE presidential campaign.
The final decision was made at the 85th FIDE Congress in August 2014 in Tromsø. Georgia's bid won, receiving 93 votes to South Africa's 58.
Preparations The proposed budget for both events exceeded 20 million US dollars. Some 1.6 million US dollars were allocated for the travel fund for participants from 80 countries, while around 2 million US dollars were set aside for parallel development and promotion programmes in Europe and the rest of the world. The organisers of the tournament named several "Goodwill Ambassadors", including famous chess players like Nona Gaprindashvili, Maia Chiburdanidze, Judit Polgár, Viswanathan Anand, as well as other domestic personalities like operatic mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, conductor and composer Nikoloz Rachveli and weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze.
Venues
The activities during the Chess Olympiad took place in three different venues. The tournament rounds took place in the Sport Palace Batumi, while the opening ceremony was held in the Black Sea Arena and the closing ceremony was held in the Batumi State Music Centre.
The Sport Palace Batumi is a modern spacious complex whose construction started in 2016 and was completed in 2018. The Chess Olympiad is the first sporting event to be held there. The venue is intended to host different kinds of sports and combines two halls: the large hall with capacity for 2,500 spectators, and the small one for 600 spectators. The Black Sea Arena is the largest concert hall in Georgia with a total capacity of 10,000 seats placed in circular grandstands. It is located near the village of Shekvetili, some 45 km north of Batumi. The construction of the hall started in 2008 with a total cost exceeding 200 million lari (around 93 million US dollars). It has an open roof at about 25 m above the ground level, while the stage spans a total area of 930 m2. Over the last couple of years, the venue has hosted concerts of famous music artists such like Christina Aguilera, Scorpions and Aerosmith. The Batumi State Music Centre was re-constructed in 2011 from a plan made by Georgian architect Vakhtang Khmaladze. The hall has modern equipment with 1,100 Spanish arm-chairs and a big Spanish chandelier. On the third floor, it has an exhibition space, where pop and jazz concerts can be held.
Anti-cheating measures In September 2018, FIDE announced the anti-cheating measures and procedures of the 43rd Chess Olympiad in accordance with the Abu Dhabi FIDE Executive Board in 2015 and the Moscow FIDE Presidential Board in 2016, as well as after clarifications of the FIDE WCOC Commission and FIDE Anti cheating Committee that were applied at the Baku Chess Olympiad. According to these measures, players and captains had to be inspected by the security staff at the entrance of the playing hall. The carrying of mobile phones, watches, and pens was not allowed inside the playing venue and players were required to release them in storage areas. Players and captains were obliged to show up at the entrance at least 30 minutes before the start of the round and those arriving later were forfeited. Fast random checks were performed by anti-cheating arbiters on approximately 20 to 30 players during each round but checks were not done during the first time control and close to the end of the game. If any indication on cheating was found, thorough check would have followed. Similar checks were performed immediately after the end of the games in each round on approximately 10 to 20 players with the application of the same procedure. Priority for checking had players who have won their games. Special attention was also given to the matches played on the top tables with about 10 players thoroughly checked in each round. The selection of players who had to be checked in each round was made by the Senior Arbiter for anti-cheating in cooperation with the Chief Arbiter.
The event Opening ceremony The opening ceremony was held on 23 September in the Black Sea Arena under the name "CHESS Stories" coined by Georgian writer Aka Morchiladze and was broadcast live on 1TV, the official website of the event and the social media. The first act was a play dedicated to the legend of the invention of chess and featured the famous wheat and chessboard problem. Then, video messages were presented by the Goodwill Ambassadors of the 43rd Chess Olympiad and speeches were delivered by the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia Mikheil Batiashvili, the Chairman of the Government of Adjara Tornike Rizhvadze, FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos and the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili. FIDE Deputy President Makropoulos welcomed all participants at the Olympiad, stressed the need for a new era of politically and financially independent FIDE and presenting a very positive vision in his speech, and later declared the Chess Olympiad open. Next, the national anthem of Georgia and the anthem of FIDE before the flag-bearers paraded on the stage.
The ceremony continued with stage performances that united the representatives of classical and modern cultures. Georgian conductor Nikoloz Memanishvili directed a concert performed by the Evgeni Mikeladze State Symphony Orchestra, ballerina Nina Ananiashvili choreographed a ballet performance, and Sukhieshvili ensemble presented a new dance. Among others who made appearance on the stage were famous Georgian singers Nino Katamadze, Liza Bagrationi and Giorgi Ushikishvili, baritone Lado Ataneli, violist Giorgi Tsagareli, the indie rock band Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz, the folklore ensemble Lashari and the Batumi cappella.
The last part of the ceremony was marked with the drawing of colours and was assisted by the batumi Chess Olympiad Goodwill Ambassador Vishwanathan Anand and Georgian chess player Nana Dzagnidze who joined Chief Arbiter Takis Nikolopoulos on the stage. The colours had to be decided in a unique way by white and black pearls hidden inside two seashells. Anand picked the white pearl that decided that United States as top seeds in the open event would play with the white pieces on the top board of the first round and Dzagnidze picked the black one that determined Russia as top seeds in the women's event to play with black on board one of the same round.
The opening ceremony ended with fireworks displayed above the Black Sea Arena.
Participating teams The number of 185 teams, representing 180 national federations, set a record. Georgia as a host country fielded three teams; there were also teams representing blind, deaf and physically disabled players. The women's tournament was contested by a record of 151 teams, representing 146 federations. The Netherlands Antilles, albeit a non-existing entity since 2010, are allowed to field teams under this name, because the Curaçao Chess Federation remains officially registered as representing the dissolved country in the FIDE Directory.
Participating teams in the 43rd Chess Olympiad
(host nation) Georgia-2 Georgia-3
IBCA ICCD
IPCA
Netherlands Antilles
US Virgin Islands
Notes
Countries in italics denote those fielding teams in the open event only. Pakistan were unable to compete after the team were denied exit visas by their government.Chess Breaks Down – Senator Klasoom Perveen put the players' names on Exit Control List, JavedCh.com (In Urdu), 24 September 2018
Competition format and calendar The tournament was played in a Swiss system format. The time control for all games was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, after which an additional 30 minutes were granted and increment of 30 seconds per move was applied. Players were permitted to offer a draw at any time. A total of 11 rounds were played, with all teams playing in every round.
In each round, four players from each team faced four players from another team; teams were permitted one reserve player who could be substituted between rounds. The four games were played simultaneously on four boards, scoring 1 game point for a win and ½ game point for a draw. The scores from each game were summed together to determine which team won the round. Winning a round was worth 2 match points, regardless of the game point margin, while drawing a round was worth 1 match point. Teams were ranked in a table based on match points. Tie-breakers for the table were i) the Sonneborn-Berger system; ii) total game points scored; iii) the sum of the match points of the opponents, excluding the lowest one.