U.S. Top Seeds, India Close 2nd As Chess Olympiad Teams Announced

GM Hikaru Nakamura skips the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad that will take place in the Hungarian capital Budapest on September 11-22, but the U.S. team of GMs Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez, Levon Aronian, and Ray Robson is still the top seed. It's just ahead of India on average rating, while China, led by World Champion Ding Liren, is third. Georgia narrowly heads India in the Women’s seedings, while China is missing its top four players.

The Chess Olympiad, held once every two years, is perhaps the biggest celebration in chess. This year in Budapest, it's set to feature over 1800 players, with 193 national teams registered in the Open section and 181 Women’s teams.

The provisional team line-ups have now been published (the board order is not yet finalized), so there’s permission to get excited!

Top 20 Open Teams: 2024 FIDE Chess Olympiad

Full team list here

Here are just some of the talking points about the players announced:

U.S. Top Seeds Despite Missing World No. 2: Nakamura suggested the final round of Norway Chess might be his last classical game of 2024. That meant skipping the Olympiad, which is just what he’s done (as in 2022), but the 2016 Champions are still favorites, with a 2758 average rating for their top-four players.  

Indian Youth Has Arrived: As hosts in 2022, India was able to field two teams, with the younger team snatching bronze, while the “veterans” (plus GM Arjun Erigaisi) took fourth. This year, there's just one team, with Arjun, GM Gukesh Dommaraju, and GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu joined by GMs Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna (GM Viswanathan Anand again leaves the stage to his younger countrymen), for a team that’s just three rating points behind the U.S. Don’t bet against them!

BREAKING: 🇮🇳 Indian team for the 45th Chess Olympiad announced!

GM Gukesh Dommaraju
GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu
GM Arjun Erigaisi
GM Vidit Gujrathi
GM Harikrishna Pentala

Let's go India ✅
Chak de India ✅ pic.twitter.com/7LGv8twEyq

— Chess.com - India (@chesscom_in) July 13, 2024

Ding vs. Gukesh Could Happen: The board order hasn’t been finalized, but we could see a Ding vs. Gukesh World Championship preview since China, returning after sitting out the 2022 Olympiad, is fielding a full-strength team led by Ding and GM Wei Yi. One curiosity is 37-year-old Wang Yue returning to the team after winning the Chinese Championship this year, 19 years after he won his first title.

Defending Champion Brings In Surprise Reinforcements: Fourth-seed Uzbekistan will be looking to defend the title it won in 2022, with its young stars having only gained more experience and rating since. The surprise is that 14th World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik is listed as their captain. Another captain surprise is GM Teimour Radjabov, currently being listed as the captain and not a player for Azerbaijan.      

Carlsen In Hunt For Olympiad Gold: GM Magnus Carlsen is unlikely to win the Olympiad with sixth seed Norway (although the team finished fifth in 2016), but he might be able to repeat the feat he managed in last year’s European Team Championship—winning individual gold on top board.

I’ve never won an individual gold medal in European Teams or the Olympiad, so that would be something quite important to me.

—Magnus Carlsen before taking gold in the 2023 European Team Championship

Turkiye Unleashes Its Prodigies: 10-year-old IM Faustino Oro doesn’t get a spot on the Argentinian team, but Turkiye has gone with 15-year-old GM Ediz Gurel and 13-year-old GM-elect Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. To be honest, it’s not a tough choice since both players already qualify by rating!

Vitiugov In Olympiad Debut For England: GM Nikita Vitiugov will play his first Olympiad for England, and with GM Gawain Jones reinforcing the team that played last year’s European Team Championship, they’re serious medal contenders.  

The Rapport, Leko Gang Gets Back Together For Hosts: As already reported, host-team Hungary has been boosted by GM Richard Rapport returning to play for Hungary after two years as a Romanian player. GM Peter Leko joins him.

Vachier-Lagrave Plays, But France Again Without Firouzja: In 2022, France was without its two star players. This year, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave returns, but GM Alireza Firouzja still skips the event.

🇫🇷 Voici la composition de l'équipe de France pour l'Olympiade d'#Échecs du 10 au 23 septembre 2024 à Budapest.
🔵 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
⚪ Étienne Bacrot
🔴 Marc'Andria Maurizzi
⚪ Maxime Lagarde
🔵 Laurent Fressinet
Sébastien Mazé est le capitaine et sélectionneur. pic.twitter.com/YN2OscaoPx

— Fédération Française des Échecs (@ffechecs) July 16, 2024

Ukraine Team A Potential Lifeline: Ukraine is the 12th seed, with its biggest stars of the last few decades, now 40-year-old GM Ruslan Ponomariov and 55-year-old GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, lining up together. The most noteworthy player, however, is their top-rated player, GM Igor Kovalenko, who has been fighting for Ukraine as a soldier after Russia’s invasion and may get to swap the front lines for the Olympiad.  

It’s Anyone’s To Win: Of course, we can only touch the surface of teams in with a chance of victory. There are the likes of the Netherlands, Poland (both GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek play), Iran, Germany, Spain, Armenia, and, for instance, 16th seed Serbia, which surprisingly won the 2023 European Team Championship.  

The battle will also be intense in the Women’s Chess Olympiad.

Top 20 Women’s Teams: 2024 FIDE Chess Olympiad

Full team lists here

Some of the storylines include:

Only One Top-10 Player Is Set To Take Part: World number 10 GM Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia is remarkably the only top-10 women’s player on the July FIDE rating list who’s set to play in Budapest. The continued exclusion of Russian teams is one reason, but there are others.

China Missing Top Four, But 14-Year-Old Talent Plays: China currently boasts the top four women’s players, GMs Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie, and Tan Zhongyi, but none of them will play in the Olympiad! China is still fourth seed, with GM Zhu Jiner the highest-rated player, though all eyes will be on 14-year-old WGM Lu Miaoyi, the reigning Chinese Women’s Champion.    

Muzychuk Sisters Don’t Play For Defending Champions: Ukraine is only seeded sixth this time around in the absence of world numbers 8 and 9, GMs Anna and Mariya Muzychuk.

Georgia Is Top Seed: Georgia, a team legend in the women’s game, just missed out to Ukraine in 2022. Its vastly experienced team has an excellent chance of winning the title for the first time since 2008.

This Could Be India’s Year: India is without GM Koneru Humpy, but the average rating of its team, which mixes youth and experience, is just a point below Georgia’s—though India may well be the top seed by the start of the event, given GM Vaishali Rameshbabu’s heroics in Biel.

BREAKING: 🇮🇳 Indian women's team for the 45th Women's Chess Olympiad announced!

GM Harika Dronavalli
GM Vaishali Rameshbabu
IM Divya Deshmukh
IM Vantika Agrawal
IM Tania Sachdev

Chak de India 🇮🇳
Good luck India! 👍 pic.twitter.com/AxcJYrPHYj

— Chess.com - India (@chesscom_in) July 13, 2024

Sara Khadem Makes Spain Debut: Women’s world number-12 IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh will be on top board for Spain for the first time since her switch from Iran. Spain is the ninth seed.

Nine-Year-Old Sivanandan To Play For England: WFM Bodhana Sivanandan will be one of the players to watch as she becomes the youngest player ever to represent England internationally in any sport. She’s not the youngest-ever player in the Olympiad, but she is one of the most exciting prodigies, male or female, anywhere in the chess world. Budapest will also be familiar to Sivanandan, who met chess legend GM Judit Polgar there.

#werkphoto😊
I met Bodhana in Budapest a few weeks ago. Watch the recorded part of the training session!👇 #ChessConnectsUs #chess #training #communication #questions #reflections #curiosity #practice @chesscom https://t.co/cE81TccafJ pic.twitter.com/axm7sgkVIF

— Judit Polgar (@GMJuditPolgar) July 5, 2024

Sweden Again A Family Affair: 61-year-old GM Pia Cramling will once again represent Sweden at the Olympiad. Once again, she’ll be joined on the team by her daughter, WFM Anna Cramling, while Pia’s husband and Anna’s father, GM Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez, is the team captain.

The FIDE Chess Olympiad starts September 11 in Budapest, Hungary, and runs until September 22.