Chess Olympiad 2022
Article
August 20, 2022
The 44th Chess Olympiad was organized by FIDE and included open and women's tournaments, as well as several events aimed at promoting chess. Initially, the event was planned to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, where the 2010 Chess Olympiad was held, but later FIDE decided to move the tournament to Moscow. The first Paralympic chess games for people with disabilities were planned in Khanty-Mansiysk. The event was originally scheduled for August 5-17, 2020, but was later postponed and rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Olympics were moved from Russia to India. On March 15, 2022, FIDE announced that the city of Chennai in India will be the new venue for the event. It was the first Chess Olympiad to be held in India. The total number of participants was 1733 people, of which 935 were open and 798 were women. The victory in the open part of the tournament (both men and women could play in the teams) was won by the national team of Uzbekistan, the second place was taken by the Armenian team, the third by the second team of India (India, as the host country, fielded three teams). The combined teams of Uzbekistan and Armenia scored the same number of team points (19), therefore, in the distribution of prizes, the Sonneborn-Berger coefficient was of decisive importance. In the women's part of the tournament, the Ukrainian team became the winners, the second place went to the Georgian team, and the third place went to the Indian team. The women's national teams of Ukraine and Georgia scored the same number of team points (18), so the winner was determined by the Sonneborn-Berger coefficient.