The 45th Chess Olympiad () was an international team chess event organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Budapest, Hungary, from 10 to 22 September 2024. It consisted of two main tournaments—an Open event, enabling participation of players from all genders, and a Women's event, enabling participation of female players only—as well as several events to promote chess.
The total number of participants was 1,884: 975 in the Open and 909 in the Women's event. The number of registered teams was 197 from 194 nations in the Open section and 183 from 180 nations in the Women's section. Both sections set team participation records despite the absence of Russia and Belarus due to their involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This was the first Chess Olympiad in which teams of refugees participated due to efforts made through FIDE's initiative for refugees "Chess for Protection". The main venue of the Chess Olympiad was the SYMA Sports and Conference Centre. The Chief Arbiter of the event was International Arbiter Ivan Syrovy from Slovakia.
A total of 11 rounds were played in both the Open and Women's events, and each featured four players from one team facing four players from another team. India won the gold medal in both the Open and Women's events, which were the country's first overall victories at the Chess Olympiad, after they had previously won the bronze medal in the Open and Women's events in 2022 and the Open event in 2014. It was the first time since 2018 that the same nation won the titles in both events, and India became the third nation to do so after the former Soviet Union and China. In the Open event, the Indian team set a new record by scoring 21 out of 22 possible match points, being the only unbeaten team in the tournament with four match points more than the rest of the field. The United States won silver and Uzbekistan won bronze in the Open event, while Kazakhstan and the United States completed the podium in the Women's event. For the first time in a Chess Olympiad, no European team won a medal in either the Open or the Women's event. Indian player on board one Gukesh Dommaraju had the highest performance for an individual player in the Open event with a performance rating of 3056 (he scored 9 out of 10 points). Israeli player Dana Kochavi had the highest individual performance in the Women's event with a performance rating of 2676 (she scored a perfect 8 of a possible 8 points). Overall, India won the Gabrindashvili Trophy for the best combined team ranking, and Indian players won four gold medals on individual boards in both events.
The 95th FIDE Congress also took place during the Olympiad, at which FIDE's General Assembly upheld the ban on Russian and Belarusian players by rejecting the Kyrgyz Chess Federation's proposal to restore the full membership of their respective chess federations.
Background The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations compete in an Olympic-style event. The first unofficial edition, labelled as the "Chess Olympic Games", was held in Paris in 1924, and coincided with the Summer Olympic Games that took place in the city in the same year. Despite the fact that the event was not officially part of the Olympic Games and the winners were not awarded official Olympic medals, the rules of the Olympic Games applied. The organisers of the Summer Olympics defined chess as a sport, but demanded that only amateurs be allowed to participate, which posed a problem because it was difficult to draw a line between amateurs and professionals. The first official edition of the Chess Olympiad was held in London in 1927. Up until 1950 the tournament was organised at irregular intervals. From then on it has been held once every two years. The first Women's Chess Olympiad took place in Emmen, Netherlands in 1957; since 1976, the Women's tournament has been held simultaneously with an Open tournament at the Chess Olympiads. The former Soviet Union has historically been the most successful nation with 18 gold medals won.
The bidding process for organising both the 45th Chess Olympiad and the coinciding FIDE Congress was opened in November 2019. Each city interested in hosting the event had to submit their bid to FIDE by 1 May 2020. The bids were to guarantee that all necessary provisions in accordance with the Olympiad Regulations of the FIDE Handbook would be covered by the organiser, including articles 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 pertaining to the organising committee, finances, and provision of amenities and stipends, respectively. Budapest submitted the only bid to host the Chess Olympiad, which was approved by the FIDE General Assembly in December 2020. Political authorities, chess legends, and prominent members of the Hungarian Olympic movement and the sports administration expressed their unconditional support for the event. It was the first Chess Olympiad that took place in Hungary since Budapest hosted the 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad in 1926.
The 45th Chess Olympiad was originally scheduled to take place in Minsk in 2022, but FIDE decided to move it from there and reopen the bid after the Belarusian organisers failed to accomplish their organisational and financial duties. After failing to find an alternative host for the event in 2022, FIDE decided to reschedule the 44th Chess Olympiad from 2021 to 2022, and the event planned for 2024 in Budapest became the 45th Chess Olympiad instead of the 46th.
Preparations The provisional total budget for the Chess Olympiad was €16.6 million, including €9 million for event services and operations as well as the hosting fee. In June 2021, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, together with the president of the Hungarian Chess Federation László Szabó and the executive director of the National Sports Agency of Hungary Attila Mihok, signed the contract in Budapest. The organisers of the event intended to make it an innovative Olympiad by introducing new technologies, such as a 5G high-speed wireless network, a real-time visual broadcast, holograms and newly invented "sensitive" chess boards for the visually impaired. It was announced to be a "green" Olympiad with the possibility of transfers between the venues and the hotels using bicycles and electric vehicles, as well as avoiding the use of paper and plastic. The Government of Hungary supported the event. Robert Kapas was the tournament director, and Slovakia's International Arbiter Ivan Syrovy was the Chief Arbiter.
Venue
The event was held at the SYMA Sports and Conference Centre, which, besides the playing hall, also included an accreditation centre and an exposition and fan zone area. This facility was built in 2000 on the site of the old Budapest Sportcsarnok, which is halfway between the Puskás Aréna and the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, in a neighbourhood that is entirely dedicated to recreation. The venue's capacity is 10,000 spectators, and it is the most modern of its kind in Hungary. It has previously hosted other sport events, such as the 2019 Hungarian Athletics Indoor Championships, the 2019 World Fencing Championships and the 2022 European Wrestling Championships.
Visitors had access to the stands at the playing field in five one-hour shifts per day from 15:00 to 20:00 CEST (UTC+2:00). Interested visitors could sign up for a visit to the grandstands on site at the counter near the cloakroom. In order for the competition to run smoothly without any disturbances, the number of visitors per shift was limited to 100, and they had to place their mobile phones and prohibited devices in the cloakroom. VIPs were allowed to use their mobile phones in silent mode in specially designated areas. The use of laptops and tablets was forbidden. Online checking of the games or any communication regarding the ongoing games was prohibited.
Fair play regulations
In July 2024, the Fair Play Team (FPT) for the Olympiad was announced. The FPT consisted of 16 members, including Fair Play Officers (FPO), Fair Play Experts (FPE) and FPE Candidates. Bojana Bejatović was appointed Chief Fair Play Officer. The FPT published instructions that players, team captains and third parties were required to comply with. Before the start of each round, all players and team captains had to undergo scanning before entering the playing venue, and all forbidden items (electronic devices and complex bags bigger than A4 format) had to be placed in a designated area. During each round, FPT members observed play to identify suspicious behaviour, and random checks were conducted using hand-held scanners. There were also privately conducted thorough checks in the presence of at least two officials if needed. Players were prohibited from leaving the playing hall during their games. Immediately after each round, thorough random checks were performed in the FPT frisking areas. All games were checked for cheating using Kenneth W. Regan's software. The Chief Fair Play Officer and her deputies received daily reports.
The event The torch relay began in India, which hosted the previous Chess Olympiad, and passed through eleven countries: Canada, Colombia, France, Georgia, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Morocco, New Zealand, Romania, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates. Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgár marched with the torch on the streets of Budapest before entering the venue where she lit the cauldron.
Opening ceremony The opening ceremony took place on 10 September at 18:00 CEST (UTC+2:00) at the Dr. Jeno Koltai Sports Center. Only participants in the Olympiad and members of the press were allowed to attend the ceremony.
Deputy State Secretary for Sport of the State Secretariat for Sports at the Ministry of Defence of Hungary Gábor Schmidt, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and President of the Hungarian Chess Federation Zoltán Polyánszky spoke during the ceremony. Dvorkovich officially declared the 45th Chess Olympiad as open. The highlight of the ceremony was the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. A video documenting the route of the torch relay around the world was played. In the final seconds of the video, Judit Polgár appeared marching through the streets of Budapest holding the torch while dressed in red. The video ended with Polgár entering the venue of the opening ceremony to greet the audience and light the Olympic cauldron. Shortly afterwards, Judit's sisters Susan and Sofia joined the stage to draw lots for the colour of pieces for the top teams. They were directed by Chief Arbiter Ivan Syrovy to the gigantic Rubik's Cubes containing two smaller cubes, of which they had to choose one. It was determined that the top teams in both events would start their games in the first round with the black pieces.
The ceremony featured performances from French pianist and composer Jason Kouchak and Hungarian singer Lilla Vincze. Together they composed a song titled "Royal Game", which premiered during the opening ceremony. Rose May & Raul also performed "Trojan War", the official song of the Olympiad. The ceremony ended with a video tribute to all participating countries, which featured their names and flags shown one after another with songs performed by Kouchak and Vincze in the background.
Participating teams