44th Chess Olympiad

India is hosting the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai for the first time. There are more the 2,500 player's coming from about 190 countries that are participating in this event. It is also the first time a torch is introduced at an event like this. According to FIDE, starting from the next Olympiad, the Torch will travel across all countries visiting FIDE member territories, just like the Olympic Games. It will start in India since chess originated in this country.

The event starts on July 29 at 2:30 a.m. PT/11:30 CEST and ends on August 9.

Teams

• Teams consist of four players and one reserve 
• Each team has a captain, who can also be one of the players.

Tournament Format

• Teams compete in an 11-round Swiss tournament.
• Teams assign players to play on boards one, two, three, and four.
• Matches consist of players from each board of one nation playing against the corresponding board of the opponent nation (board one vs. board one, board two vs. board two, and so on).
• The time control is 90+30, with 30 minutes added after move 40.
• Players cannot draw by agreement before move 30.

Points System

• Match results are decided by "game points."
• Each team gets one game point per win, 0.5 game points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.
• The team with the most game points wins the match.
• There are no tiebreaks if the match ends in a draw.
• Teams win two "match points" for winning a match, one match point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.
• The team with the most match points at the end of the tournament becomes the Olympiad Champion.