2024 Budapest Olympiad: Preview

For many, the bi-yearly (that's once every two years) Olympiad is the landmark event for both spectators and players alike. With this year's Olympiad having almost 1000 players in both the Open and Women's section, it is one of the biggest chess events, period. Spectators from around the world can enjoy many different storylines: on the one hand, there are the star-studded teams who are vying to win the Olympiad; on the other hand, there are teams like Norway, who may only be ranked sixth in terms of teams' starting rating average, but who have one particularly goat(GOAT)-like player.

Players from different countries may also be rooting for their home team, especially so when these lower rated teams face off against higher rated ones, where some players achieve their lifetime highest rated win. Not only that, but the sheer number of games virtually guarantees chess beauty and a rather high dose of chess beauty at that. The seemingly boring draws of invitational high level round robin events will assuredly not be present in the Olympiad, and the wide variety of players means that a clash of styles is guaranteed to produce exciting chess. Last but not least, the Olympiad is the prime embodiment of FIDE's "gens una sumus" ("we are one family") — under the vast net of chess, players from almost 200 federations will meet together, enjoy each other's company, and battle it out on the chessboard and only the chessboard.

Schedule

Lichess Stream

Lichess will be covering the Olympiad, with live camera feeds and rotating commentators including GM Illia Nyzhnyk and IM Eric Rosen, amongst others. Make sure to tune in to our YouTube and Twitch channels on the days of the event.

Lichess Broadcast

Open

In the open section, there are 246 GMs, 126 IMs, 1 WGM, 169 FMs, and 82 CMs. Let's dive into the teams and take a look at individual players to look out for.

The Teams

The three highest rated teams are the United States of America (2757 average rating), India (2753), and China (2724). These three teams are the only teams with an average rating of 2700+. The USA has fielded Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez Perez, Levon Aronian, and Ray Robson. India has recruited Arjun Erigaisi, Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, and Pentala Harikrishna, while China has Wei Yi, Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, Bu Xiangzhi, and Wang Yue on its roster.

The players on these three teams are well-known in the chess world and will be looking to combine their powers to get the coveted gold medal. There are of course many other teams with chances to win. Armenia, who tied for first in 2012 (winning on tiebreaks) and tied for first in 2022 (losing on tiebreaks) has been known to overperform at Olympiads, a fact linked to their strong team spirit and endless supply of underrated talents. The Uzbek team, fourth in the starting ranking and with an average rating of 2690, comes in as the defending champion, having won the 44th chess Olympiad in Chennai. Many other teams, such as Ukraine and host country Hungary, have finished on the podium before and will be looking to get a gold medal.

The Players

The 2024 Budapest Olympiad has 24 players rated over 2700 and 15 of the world's 20 top players. Apart from the aforementioned top players, which include reigning world champion Ding Liren, world champion challenger D Gukesh, and world #2 Fabiano Caruana, the player list will be headlined by former world champion and current world #1, Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen's last classical tournament was Norway Chess 2024, which he won. In fact, Carlsen has been having a great chess year and will be looking to help Norway achieve a historic first gold medal.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who is on the rise and gained rating in 2024, will lead the Uzbek team, while world #14 Le Quang Liem will play board 1 for Vietnam. Familiar names such as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will play board 1 for their countries of Azerbaijan, Poland, and France, respectively. In addition, the players list includes no shortage of chess legends as Peter Leko, Alexei Shirov, and Vasyl Ivanchuk, who will also be participating. All in all, this massive field of superstars promises excitement for all chess fans.

More Olympiad Info

• Magnus Carlsen has never won an individual board 1 gold medal in the Olympiad, so he will be looking to add one more accolade to his illustrious career.
• Note that the board order of teams has not been decided; however, most teams will line their players up based on rating. Many interesting board matchups are possible. We mention a few:

1. D Gukesh vs. Ding Liren
2. Magnus Carlsen vs. Ding Liren
3. Magnus Carlsen vs. Fabiano Caruana
4. Magnus Carlsen vs. Ediz Gurel
5. Magnus Carlsen vs. Luis Supi
6. Wei Yi vs. Richard Rapport
7. Peter Leko vs. Vasyl Ivanchuk

• Turkiye has not one, but two child prodigies on its lineup: Ediz Gurel and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. It helps that they are both in fact the country's top two highest rated players.
• Amazingly, apart from Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, there are 50 players in the Olympiad who are of the same age or younger than 15-year-old Ediz Gurel.
• 19 of those players were born in 2010 or later. Youngest among them are Daniel Combs of Guam and Mazen Fandi of Syria, who were both born in 2013. Javon D James is listed as having been born in 2015 on chess-results, though their FIDE profile indicates their year of birth is 2005.
• The oldest player in the field is Clifford Shaw, who was born in 1950 and plays for the Cayman Islands.
• In the open section, the only person with a women's title is WGM Elvira Berend, who is representing Luxembourg.
• The highest rated non-all-GM team is Iran, with 14-year-old IM Sina Movahed as its sole non-GM.
• 55th seed Finland is the highest rated team with no GMs.
• The highest rated team with no titled players is 118th seed Liechtenstein.
• 95th seed Trinidad and Tobago has 5 FMs on its roster.

Women

In the Women's section, there are 17 GMs, 55 IMs, 54 WGMs, 12 FMs, 108 WIMs, 3 CMs, 114 WFMs, and 104 WCMs. Who are the favorites and which players are playing?

The Teams

India, Georgia, Poland, China, and Ukraine all have an average rating above 2400 and fill spots 1–5, respectively. India is fielding a team of veterans and youngsters: Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, and Tania Sachdev. Georgia, on the other hand, is all about experience, with an average age of ~37. Nana Dzagnidze, Lela Javakhishvili, Nino Batsiashvili, Bella Khotenashvili, and Salome Melia are playing for the Georgian team.

Meanwhile, third place Polish team has Alina Kashlinskaya, Monika Socko, Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, Oliwia Kiolbasa, and Alicja Sliwicka on its roster. Fifth-seeded Ukraine are the defending champions, with Georgia and India having finished in second and third in the previous Olympiad, respectively. Since 2000, the only currently participating countries that have won the Women's Olympiad include China, Georgia, India, Poland, Ukraine, and the USA.

The Players

Other prominent players include former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, who now represents Switzerland, Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, now representing Spain, and former world youth and junior champion, Elizabeth Paehtz. Monika Socko and Pia Cramling carry the torch for the older generation, while 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi and 18-year-old Eline Roebers are amongst the representatives of rising young talents.

More Olympiad Info

• 80-year-old WIM Rani Hamid will play for Bangladesh.
• The oldest participant, though, is 84-year-old Pauline Marian Woodward.
• 9-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan, who boasts an incredible 2196 classical FIDE rating, is not the only player born in 2015 competing in the Olympiad. Arianna Balcombe of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ginger Jubitana of the Netherlands Antilles, Skye Attieh of Lebanon, and Tauriel A.B. Frank of Grenada are, alongside Sivanandan, the youngest participants in the field.
• GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant has had a long and storied career at Olympiads; this will be her 12th Olympiad.
• The Gaprindashvili Trophy, named after Nona Gaprindashvili, is awarded to the team who scores the best in both the open and women's sections.

Inspiring Stories

The article started with "gens una sumus". Equally as important, though, is chess' ability to help people from all different walks of life to forget about their problems and enjoy a simple game of chess. There are many ongoing armed conflicts today; however, that has not stopped federations such as Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Myanmar, Palestine, Sudan, and Ukraine to send their chess players abroad. What's more, the tales of young and old we have highlighted should inspire every chess player to look not at life's clock, but at the chessboard's clock. Chess has the power to unite and the Olympiad is the best example of this unity.

Best of Luck!

Lichess streamers Felix Blohberger (player), Laura Unuk (player), Sabina Foisor (team captain), Tamas Banusz (player), and Toms Kantans (player) will all be at the 2024 Chess Olympiad, amongst others. We wish them all the best of luck in their endeavours!