Georgia’s Black Sea Batumi to Host 43rd World Chess Olympiad
The World Chess Federation (FIDE) will hold the 43th Chess Olympiad in Georgia’s Black Sea coastal city of Batumi.
The competition will take place from September 23 to October 6 and teams of women and men from 190 countries will participate in it.
Aside from the Olympiad, FIDE and Continental presidential elections, the FIDE 89th Congress and other important chess events will take place in Batumi.
Chess players, captains, arbiters, accompanying persons, congress delegates and foreign journalists will all be in Georgia from September 21, flying into Georgian airports in Batumi, Kutaisi and Tbilisi.
A festive opening ceremony will be held at the Black Sea Arena on September 23, while the closing ceremony will be held at the Batumi State Music Center on October 5.
The Chess Olympiad is open to all National Federations affiliated to FIDE, who can nominate one team for the open section and one for the women's section. Each team must consist of four players, one reserve and one captain. The captain may be, but is not limited to being, one of the players or the reserve. Additionally, each delegation can nominate one head of delegation and one delegate for the FIDE congress.
In parallel with the teams of different countries, the Organizing Committee of the 2018 Chess Olympiad invites the most motivated, erudite and enthusiastic young people (18-30) to volunteer and work in the framework of the 43rd Chess Olympiad.
All participants to the Olympiad and the Congress have to be registered. The registration is open from 23 April to 23 July 2018.
Registration of the FIDE 89th Congress participants is the same as for the teams. The Congress participants may register from 23 April until 23 July 2018 through the official registration system of the Olympiad: https://batumi2018.fide.com/en/register
The registration fee is 100 Euros per person. This fee covers accreditation and transportation costs throughout the Olympiad in Batumi.
All participants of the Olympiad will be accommodated in 5 and 4-star hotels located in Batumi and its surroundings.
The Olympiad venue, Sport Palace, situated in the center of Batumi, was opened this year and the Olympiad is the first event to be held there.
On May 11-13, the Organizing Committee of the 43rd Chess Olympiad held a Media Tournament in Chess – Batumi 2018.
The winner was Gocha Tandarashvili, a journalist of the Comedy Channel. The champion got 6 points out of 7 and earned first place.
5-time world champion Nona Gaprindashvili and twice world vice-champion Nana Ioseliani gave all participants of the tournament 43rd Chess Olympiad branded prizes.
A special prize was awarded to Nino Pashalishvili from Maestro TV, who had the best result among women.
A special event in connection to the World Olympiad was held in Batumi on Europe Square on May 13, attended by locals and representatives of the Adjara government.
By Thea Morrison