44th Chess Olympiad, 2022: Chennai, Thambi, and the Trophy Swap

Start with the event itself. Then learn the three trophies and the woman behind one of them.

1. What is the Chess Olympiad, and when did it begin?

The Chess Olympiad is a team chess event run by FIDE, the world chess federation. It is held every two years. Each team fields four players on four boards, plus reserves.

The first official Olympiad took place in London in July 1927. It was played at Westminster Central Hall. Sixteen teams and 70 players took part. They played 480 games in a round-robin.

Hungary won in 1927. Denmark was second and England third. An English donor, Hon. F. G. Hamilton Russell, gave the cup for that event.

FIDE had been formally set up at Zurich in 1925. The word “Olympiad” became the official name only in 1952. Today the event is an eleven-round Swiss tournament.

2. How are the Open and Women's sections different?

The Open section came first. It is open to every player, men or women. The Women’s section came later. It was first held in Emmen, in the Netherlands, in 1957. The Soviet Union won it, with Romania second and East Germany third.

A Women’s event planned for Emmen in 1961 was cancelled. Some Eastern European teams could not get visas. The numbering of the two events was matched from the 1984 Olympiad in Thessaloniki.

From 1976 onward, both sections have been held in the same city every time. Chennai 2022 followed that pattern.

3. Which trophy goes to which section?

There are three trophies to learn:

• Hamilton-Russell Cup: the winning team of the Open section.
• Vera Menchik Cup: the winning team of the Women’s section.
• Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy: the country with the best combined result in both sections.

The Hamilton-Russell Cup was offered for the 1927 Olympiad in London. The winning team keeps it only until the next event. Then it passes to the next winner.

The Vera Menchik Cup was created at the first Women’s Olympiad in 1957. It carries the names of all the countries that have won it.

A simple memory hook helps. Vera is a woman’s name, so the Vera Menchik Cup belongs to the Women’s section.

4. Who was Vera Menchik, and who has won her cup?

Vera Menchik was the first Women’s World Chess Champion. She won her first world title in 1927 with a perfect score. She also played in top men’s events. Strong men who lost to her were joked about as members of the “Vera Menchik Club”.

Her cup has been won by eight countries. The Soviet Union won it 11 times, the most of any team. China has won seven times, including the 2026 Olympiad. Georgia has won four times and Russia three. Ukraine and Hungary have two wins each. India and Israel have one each.

The answer is a story of a war, a ten-day bid and a brand-new tradition.

5. Where was the 2022 Olympiad meant to be held?

The plan changed more than once. The 44th Olympiad was first meant for Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia, in August 2020. It later moved to Moscow. The COVID-19 pandemic then postponed it. FIDE held online Olympiads in 2020 and 2021 instead.

The new Moscow dates were 26 July to 8 August 2022. Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Moscow could no longer host the event. FIDE needed a new host within weeks.

Two other FIDE events also left Russia. They were the first Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities and the 93rd FIDE Congress.

6. How did Chennai win the hosting rights?

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) moved fast. It built a bid in about ten days, with the support of the Tamil Nadu government. FIDE awarded the event to India on 15 March 2022.

AICF gave FIDE a guarantee of 10 million US dollars. Chief Minister M K Stalin announced the news on Twitter. He called Tamil Nadu the “Chess Capital of India”.

This was the second big global chess event in India. The first was the World Championship match in 2013. Stalin later said that Tamil Nadu finished its arrangements in four months.

7. What was new about the torch relay?

The 44th Olympiad began a new tradition. FIDE started a torch relay for the first time in Olympiad history. The idea came from the Olympic Games.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the relay on 19 June 2022 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed the torch to Modi. Modi gave it to Viswanathan Anand.

The torch visited 75 cities in 40 days before reaching Mahabalipuram. At each stop, chess grandmasters of that state received it. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said it covered 27,277 kilometres.

8. How did the Olympiad open, and who is Thambi?

Modi declared the Olympiad open on 28 July 2022 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai. He said it was the first Olympiad held in chess’s place of origin. He said it was also the first in Asia in three decades. The last Asian host was Manila in 1992.

The games were played at a resort venue in Mahabalipuram, near Chennai. The last round was on 9 August.

The mascot is Thambi. In Tamil the word means a little or younger brother. It was unveiled in June 2022 with the logo and the hashtag #ChessChennai2022. Stalin said Thambi stands for brotherhood. He said the leader known as Anna used to call everyone “Thambi”.

On India’s stamp for the event, Thambi is a horse in a white shirt and dhoti. His hands are folded in greeting.

India won no gold in the team events. It did win a good set of medals, and one big trophy.

9. Who won the Open section in 2022?

Uzbekistan won the Open section. In the last round it beat the Netherlands 2.5 to 1.5. Armenia also finished on 19 match points. Tiebreaks put Uzbekistan first and Armenia second.

India 2, a second Indian team, took bronze with 18 match points. The Open section had 187 teams from 185 federations.

Uzbekistan won the Open section again at home in Samarkand in 2026.

10. Who won the Women's section in 2022?

Ukraine won the Women’s section. It beat Poland 3 to 1 in the last round. Georgia also finished on 18 match points. Ukraine won on tiebreaks.

India lost to the United States in the last round and slipped to third. India took bronze. It was a strong result for the home team.

The Women’s section had 162 teams from 160 federations.

11. What is the Gaprindashvili Trophy, and who won it in 2022?

The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy goes to the best country across both sections. It is decided by the combined results of the Open and Women’s teams.

India won it in 2022 with 34 match points. The United States also had 34 match points. India won on the additional tiebreaks.

India won this trophy even though it won no team gold.

12. Which individual players won board medals?

Players also win medals for their results on each board. India’s Gukesh D won gold on board one with 9 points from 11. Nihal Sarin won gold on board two. Arjun Erigaisi won silver on board three.

David Howell of England won board three with 7.5 from 8. Jakhongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan won board four. Mateusz Bartel of Poland won the reserve board.

In the Women’s section, Pia Cramling of Sweden won board one. Oliwia Kiolbasa of Poland won board three.

India’s hosting led to bigger things on the board. Two later Olympiads show the story.

13. How did India do at Budapest in 2024?

The 45th Olympiad was held in Budapest, Hungary, from 10 to 23 September 2024. The Open section had 188 teams.

India won gold in both sections. In the Open, the United States took silver and Uzbekistan bronze. In the Women’s, Kazakhstan took silver and the United States bronze.

Gukesh won gold on board one again. Arjun Erigaisi won gold on board three. In the Women’s section, Divya Deshmukh won board three and Vantika Agrawal won board four.

14. And who won in Samarkand in 2026?

The 46th Olympiad was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September 2026. Uzbekistan won the Open section at home. It beat Ukraine 2.5 to 1.5 in the last round. This was its second Olympiad title after Chennai 2022.

India took silver in the Open section after a 2-2 draw with Hungary. Germany won bronze.

China won the Women’s gold. Kazakhstan took silver. India took bronze on tiebreaks.

UPSC asked about this Olympiad in 2023. The trap was the trophy swap.

15. How did the Civil Services Prelims 2023 test it?

The question appeared as number 96 in CSP 2023, General Studies Paper I. It listed four statements about the 44th Chess Olympiad.

UPSC’s key gives (b) Only two. Check each statement in turn:

• Statement 1 is correct. It was India’s first Chess Olympiad.
• Statement 2 is correct. The mascot was Thambi.
• Statement 3 is wrong. The Open section’s trophy is the Hamilton-Russell Cup.
• Statement 4 is wrong. The Women’s section’s trophy is the Vera Menchik Cup.

The test was not hard knowledge. It was the swap of two trophy names.

16. What should I revise at a glance?

Use this list before the exam:

• Venue and year: Chennai, 2022. The first Olympiad in India.
• Why Chennai: Moscow lost the event after the invasion of Ukraine. FIDE awarded India the event on 15 March 2022.
• New feature: The first torch relay, launched on 19 June 2022.
• Mascot: Thambi, a horse. The name means younger brother.
• Open trophy: Hamilton-Russell Cup. Women’s trophy: Vera Menchik Cup.
• Best combined country: Gaprindashvili Trophy, won by India in 2022.
• Winners in 2022: Uzbekistan (Open) and Ukraine (Women’s). India took bronze in both.

Revise the list line by line.