The Open event at the 45th Chess Olympiad was held from 11 to 22 September 2024. It was contested by a record number of 197 teams, representing 194 nations. Hungary, as host nation, fielded three teams. A total of 975 players participated in the Open event.
India won the gold medal in the Open event, which was their first overall win at the Chess Olympiads. The United States and Uzbekistan completed the podium by winning the silver and bronze medals, respectively. India's Gukesh Dommaraju achieved the highest performance rating of 3056 in the Open event after scoring 9 out of a possible 10 points (eight wins and two draws) on board one. Individual gold medals were also won by Thai Dai Van Nguyen of the Czech Republic with 7½ out of 10 and a performance rating of 2783, Arjun Erigaisi of India who had the highest individual score in the tournament of 10 out of 11 with a performance rating of 2968, Shamsiddin Vokhidov of Uzbekistan who scored 8 out of 10 with a performance rating of 2779, and Frederik Svane of Germany who played as a reserve and finished with 9 out of 10 and a performance rating of 2791.
Competition format and calendar The tournament was played in a Swiss system format. The time control for all games is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, after which an additional 30 minutes were granted and increment of 30 seconds per move was applied from the first move. Players were permitted to offer a draw at any time. A total of 11 rounds were played, and all teams were paired in every round.
In each round, four players from each team faced four players from another team; teams were permitted one reserve player who could be substituted between rounds. The four games were played simultaneously on four boards with alternating colours, scoring 1 game point for a win and ½ game point for a draw. The scores from each game were summed together to determine which team would win the round. Winning a round was worth two match points, regardless of the game point margin, while drawing a round was worth one match point. Teams were ranked in a table based on match points. Tie-breakers for the table were i) the Sonneborn–Berger system; ii) total game points scored; iii) the sum of the match points of the opponents, excluding the lowest one.
The event took place from 10 to 23 September 2024. Tournament rounds started on 11 September and ended with the final round on 22 September. All rounds began at 15:00 CEST (UTC+2:00), except for the final round which began at 11:00 CEST (UTC+2:00). There was one rest day on 17 September, after the sixth round.
All dates are CEST (UTC+2:00) 1RoundRDRest day
September11thWed12thThu13stFri14thSat15thSun16thMon17thTue18thWed19thThu20thFri21stSat22ndSunTournament round | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|1 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|2 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|3 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|4 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|5 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|6 | style="background:#E7FEFF;"|RD | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|7 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|8 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|9 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|10 | style="background:#7CB9E8;"|11
Teams and players The Open event was contested by a total of 975 players from 197 teams. It featured seven of the top ten players from the FIDE rating list published in September 2024. World no. 2 Hikaru Nakamura decided not to play for a second Olympiad in a row, and Alireza Firouzja did not play for France. United States, India and China were regarded as favourites with all three having an average rating above 2700 points. United States' team, consisting of Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez, Levon Aronian and Ray Robson as a reserve player, had the highest average rating of 2757. Nevertheless, the team, theoretically, was rendered weaker due to the absence of the top-ranked American player and second-highest rated player in the world Hikaru Nakamura. India, whose second team won bronze at the previous Olympiad that the country hosted, had the second highest rating of 2753 with two players from the bronze-winning team. The squad consisted of the challenger in the World Chess Championship 2024 Gukesh Dommaraju on board one followed by R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna. Former five-time World Champion Vishwanathan Anand decided to step aside for the younger generation and was the only of India's top-rated players who did not play. China had the third highest average rating of 2727 with reigning World Champion Ding Liren playing on top board followed by Wei Yi, Yu Yangyi, Bu Xiangzhi and Wang Yue.
The defending champions Uzbekistan were the fourth seeds. They were captained by former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and fielded the same line-up that won the gold medal in 2022, which included Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Shamsiddin Vokhidov and Jakhongir Vakhidov. Former five-time World Champion and current world no. one Magnus Carlsen played on top board for the sixth-seeded team of Norway. Hungary's first team had the ninth highest pre-tournament average rating and were stronger for Richard Rapport, who returned to play for his native country three months before the Olympiad, and Peter Leko. Other strong contenders included Poland, Netherlands and England (strengthened by Nikita Vitiugov).
Rounds
Round 1
The favourites proved their superiority in the first round, with a total of 56 teams scoring maximum wins. Of the top-seeded teams, India, China and Netherlands swept their opponents, whereas the United States, Uzbekistan and Norway conceded a half point. The Uzbek team had a challenging start with two dubious positions against their opponents from Trinidad and Tobago, in which Shamsiddin Vokhidov playing as White on board three squeezed out a win over Kevin Cupid, while Nodirbek Yakubboev narrowly escaped a lost position against Quinn Cabralis with the Black pieces on board two and settled for a draw. The top-seeded American team scored a 3½–½ victory against Panama thanks to wins by Leinier Domínguez, Levon Aronian and Ray Robson, while Wesley So drew his game on the top board with Panama's top player Roberto Carlos Sanchez Alvarez. Aronian played an overly optimistic line with the Black pieces in a Sicilian Defence and went into trouble after 13 moves, but found out a way to complicate things and went on to outplay his opponent in a double-rook endgame.
The biggest individual upset was perhaps Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's draw against his 17-year-old untitled opponent Anas Khwaira from Jordan. Mamedyarov playing as Black found himself in a difficult position with an exchange down after his opponent had made a great maneouvre (see diagram). White had a clear advantage in the ensuing position, but Anas Khwaira agreed to a draw after 49 moves. Arjun Erigaisi also played a troublesome position after he had sacrificed a piece, but eventually managed to get victorious out of the complications. Anish Giri wrung water from a stone to score a win in the longest game of the day. World no. 1 Magnus Carlsen, World Champion Ding Liren, Fabiano Caruana and Gukesh Dommaraju rested in this round.
Round 2
In the second round, most of the top-seeded teams scored their second match victories, with India, Slovenia and Georgia being the only teams with individual wins on all boards after two rounds. Fabiano Caruana made his debut at the tournament and scored the first win in the match between the United States and Singapore, which ended in a 4–0 victory for the American team, despite concerns raised by Caruana about the games of his teammates. He commented:
At the moment, Levon is struggling. His game today is very dangerous for him, and we can’t really afford to lose a game. We’re playing a solid team, and they are probably going to make two draws with the white pieces.
Other players who appeared on the board for the first time include World Champion Ding Liren who drew his game on the top board against Chilean grandmaster Cristobal Henriquez Villagra, World Champion challenger Gukesh Dommaraju who developed a kingside attack and benefited from a mistake by the Icelandic grandmaster Vignir Vatnar Stefansson to score his first win, and Richard Rapport who won a 30-move game over Peruvian grandmaster Jorge Cori.
Uzbekistan scored a convincing 3½–½ victory over Egypt in which Javokhir Sindarov was held to a draw by Hamed Wafa. Netherlands narrowly defeated Belgium 2½–1½ with two draws on the lower boards. There were also a few upsets in this round as Norway, Czech Republic, Israel and Greece drew against Canada, Mongolia, Ireland and Tajikistan, respectively. Norway and Canada played a match with four decisive results—all wins for the players with the White pieces. The decision to rest Magnus Carlsen for one more round cost the Norwegian team a match point as his replacement on the top board Johan-Sebastian Christiansen suffered a loss to Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux after blundering in a drawn queen endgame (see diagram). Later on, it was revealed that the real reason for Carlsen's absence was that he was playing a secret match against Hikaru Nakamura. Israel and Ireland also played a match with four decisive games. Maxim Rodshtein as Black on board one and Ilia Smirin as White on the fourth board scored wins for Israel, while Tarun Kanyamarala as Black on the second board and Tom O'Gorman as White on the third board won for Ireland.
Round 3
The four teams with the highest pre-tournament average rating—United States, India, China and Uzbekistan—scored their third victories. United States convincingly defeated Bulgaria 3½–½ thanks to the wins by Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Levon Aronian. Caruana played a long game against Ivan Cheparinov, which finally managed to convert when both players were playing on the incremental 30 seconds. India dropped the first half point in the tournament after Vidit Gujrathi had drawn, but they beat Hungary B thanks to victories scored by Gukesh Dommaraju, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi. Erigaisi's win over Péter Prohászka with a queen sacrifice and checkmate (see diagram) was his third out of three games played. China beat Slovenia 3–1 even though Ding Liren failed to score a win again and drew against Vladimir Fedoseev, while Uzbekistan snatched a 3½–½ victory over Croatia.
However, there are several upsets in this round, with two of the top favourites suffering losses. Netherlands as fifth seeds lost to Italy 3–1 in a match wherein Lorenzo Lodici, Francesco Sonis and Sabino Brunello scored full points against Anish Giri, Max Warmerdam and Erwin l'Ami, respectively. Jorden Van Foreest won the only game for the Dutch team by defeating Luca Moroni. The seventh-seeded German team was narrowly beaten by Lithuania after Alexander Donchenko blundered a winning position against Valery Kazakouski. In the other matches involving strong teams with surprising results, France and Romania were defeated with a 2½–1½ scoreline by Montenegro and Sweden, respectively; England played a 2–2 tie with Denmark and so did Iran with Georgia.
Magnus Carlsen played his first game in the tournament and contributed to Norway's 3½–½ victory over Colombia by defeating Roberto Garcia Pantoja with the Black pieces. He arrived ten minutes late as he had been travelling by bike in the rain, rushing to the venue and getting confused about the entrance. Following the game, he commented:
It was a bit of a mess. I am in a different hotel from the others, so they were supposed to pick me up. Then, they suddenly told me that traffic was horrible and they would be at my hotel at five to three. At that point, I thought I couldn’t get there in time by car, so I decided biking might be faster.
Round 4