Chess Olympiad - a biennial chess tournament
In an article named ‘The Morals of Chess’, Benjamin Franklin states the unique qualities enshrined in a game of chess. Franklin wrote that the game was just not a source of amusement but it inculcated essential qualities and strengths that were required
to lead a successful and disciplined life.
The significance of this game is further evident by its frequent use in literary works such as arts and motion pictures. Many experts are of the view that chess should be included in the scholastics for students at a very young age. Many countries have also
formed organizations that carry out scholastic tournaments for young children, like the United States Chess Federation and the National Scholastic Chess Foundation.
Today, chess is played as an organized sport. The game has structured international and national leagues, tournaments and congresses. Federation Internationale des Echecs, popularly known as FIDE is the International governing body of chess and is the member
of the International Olympic Committee. FIDE is the organizer of the most renowned chess tournaments in the world, the Chess Olympiad that takes place twice a year. It is an international event and players from all over the world compete against each other.
The Olympiad has evolved from an unofficial event to one of the most celebrated tournaments of the game. Since the administration was facing a lot of problems distinguishing between amateur and professional chess players, chess was not included in the Summer
Olympics of 1924. FIDE was then formed on the 20th of July 1924 in Paris where the Olympics were taking place and on the last day of the first and unofficial chess Olympiad. FIDE was then made the authority to organize Chess Olympiads across the
world after chess was recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee. The first Chess Olympiad that took place under FIDE was in 1927, London. Ever since 1950, the tournament takes place after every two years.
Before entering the Olympiad, the teams have to register with FIDE. Each team that registers in the Olympiad has 6 chess players in their squad, out of which 4 are regular players while the other two are put on the reserves list. When the Olympiad was still
on its growing stage, each participating country competed against all others. However, things have changed. Now that the event has grown in numbers, this is realistically not possible for all the teams to compete. Having faced numerous drawbacks by using the
team seeding method, FIDE decided to adopt the Swiss tournament system.
The first prize in the men’s competitions is still the same to the one that was awarded in the first official Chess Olympiad that took place in London. The winning trophy is known as the Hamilton-Russell Cup and is named after Englishmen Fredrick Hamilton-Russell.
The cup is passed on from one winning team to the other as the tournaments proceed. As for the women’s team, the trophy that is presented to the winning team is called the Vera Menchik Cup. Vera was the first women’s world chess champion.
Currently, India is leading the era of modern chess, since the Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand is the World Chess Champion. Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia is the dominating female chess player according to the world chess rankings but Judit Polgar
is the most fancied chess player. Judit however has never been a part of the Women’s World Chess Championship. She has always played against the top male players in chess and thus maintains an overall chess ranking.
The titles and awards of achievements that are presented to the players of chess in the Olympiad include the Grandmaster, International Master, FIDE Master and Candidate Master in the order of decreasing worth. The titles are given on the basis of these
ratings.
The 39th Chess Olympiad took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The next Chess Olympiad of 2012 will take place in the capital city of Turkey, Istanbul which will mark the 40th Chess Olympiad.
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