The 43rd World Chess Olympiad, which is hosted by Batumi, has started today.

The first symbolic move was made by the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili on the Georgian first team leader Baadur Jobava’s board.

The first Georgian team played against ICCD and won 3,5:0,5. Only Jobava wasn’t able to win and ended the game against Grandmaster Yehuda Gruenfeld in a draw. The rest of the players won: Mikheil Mchedlishvili defeated Viktor Varezhkin, Levan Pantsulaia defeated Lewis Martin, Davit Jojua defeated Tomas Jankunas.

The second Georgian team won 3,5:0,5 against Liechtenstein. The third Georgian team won on all the 4 boards against Macao.

“The mood is great, after the magical show yesterday. However, opening ceremony and competition are completely different. Even though it is the first day of the competition and we see the mistakes, we are all sure, that in 2-3 days everything will be perfect. The Organizing Committee of the Olympiad works without rest to achieve desired results, but the most important are the players’ performances. I hope, our teams will make us happy with their victory.” – said the Georgian Chess Federation president and one of the leaders of the Organizing Committee Giorgi Giorgadze.

The first symbolic move on women’s team leader Nana Dzagnidze’s board was made by the Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Sport of Georgia Mikheil Batiashvili.

The first team of women defeated South Korea with 3:1: Nana Dzagnidze defeated Chengjia Wang, Bela Khotenashvili defeated Seyon Lee, Meri Arabidze – Yubin Kim. Unfortunately, Lela Javakhishvili lost against Roza Eynula.

The second Georgian Team won against South Africa with 4:0, the third team won with the same score against Seychelles.

Among men the top seeded team in Batumi is the USA team. Olympic Champions (USA won the Olympiad 2 years ago in Baku) started the Batumi Olympiad impressively: They defeated 89 seeded Panama on both boards.

Russian team, which is the third place winner at the Olympiad 2 years ago, and second seeded team in Batumi, won against Uganda (90th). The Vice-Champion of the previous Olympiad Ukraine (current ratings – the 6th place) defeated Zambia with 3,5:0,5.

In the second round USA will compete against the third Georgian team, Russia will compete against Ireland, Ukrainians will try to defeat Uzbekistani. The rest of the teams of Georgia will play against Norway and Denmark (first team and the second team).

The leader of the women’s ratings Russia won with 3,5:0,5 against Costa Rica. The second seeded Ukrainian team defeated Monaco on all the 4 boards. Current Olympic Champion and third seeded China defeated Tajikistan in the first round with 3,5:0,5.

In the second round China’s opponent will be Columbia, Ukraine will compete with Turkmenistan, Russia with Uzbekistan.

Georgian women’s teams opponents:

The first team – Norway, the second team – Sweden, third team – Germany.

The second round also starts at 15:00.

The Organizing Committee of the 2018 World Chess Olympiad

 

Please, see results on link http://chess-results.com