Russian Chess Players Head Starting Lists of the FIDE World Team Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk

The FIDE World Team Championships will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk from June 16 (arrival) till June 27 (departure).

10 teams will compete both in the open and women's sections. They are the previous World Chess Team Champions, the three highest-placed teams in the FIDE Olympiad prior to the event, the four Continental Champions, the teams from the organizing federation, and the teams nominated by FIDE President.

The national teams from Russia are rating favourites in both sections.

The Russian men’s team is represented by such strong grandmasters as Ian Nepomniachtchi (2732), Peter Svidler (2756), Maxim Matlakov (2707), Nikita Vitiugov (2720), Vladimir Fedoseev (2703), average rating – 2724.

Their main rivals will be the teams from China Ding Liren (2783), Yu Yangyi (2749), Wei Yi (2728), Li Chao (2720), and Wen Yang (2617), average rating – 2720), Ukraine (Ruslan Ponomariov (2712), Anton Korobov (2711), Andrei Volokitin (2649), Alexander Areschenko (2652), Martyn Kravtsiv (2653), average rating – 2676), the United States of America (Jeffery Xiong (2658), Ray Robson (2656), Alexander Onischuk (2685), Samuel Shankland (2676), Varuzhan Akobian (2673), average rating – 2670), and Poland (Radoslaw Wojataszek (2730), Jan Krzysztof Duda (2697), Kacper Piorun (2632), Mateusz Bartel (2637), Grzegorz Gajewski (2628), average rating – 2665).

In spite of lower average ratings, the teams from India (2657), Belarus (2601), Turkey (2583), Norway (2510), and Egypt (2404) are surely able to come as a surprise and create sensations on a chessboard.

Open section teams

In the women’s section, the top seeds are Russia (Alexandra Kosteniuk (2537), Kateryna Lagno (2539), Valentina Gunina (2504), Aleksandra Goryachkina (2477), Olga Girya (2480), average rating – 2508), China (Ju Wenjun (2583), the Women’s World Chess Champion Tan Zhongyi (2517), Zhao Xue (2490), Lei Tingjie (2488), Guo Qi (2417), average rating – 2499), and Georgia (Nana Dzagnidze (2533), Nino Batsiashvili (2468), Lela Javakhishvili (2447), Bela Khotenashvili (2452), Salome Melia (2393), average rating – 2459).

Their opponents are the teams from India (2417), Poland (2415), Ukraine (2406), Azerbaijan (2329), the United States of America (2325), Vietnam (2323), and Egypt (1994).

Womens section teams

The championships will be played using a 9 round, round-robin system. Each team will play a match against all other teams. Colours and starting numbers will be drawn at the Opening Ceremony.

Time control for the event is 90 min/40 moves + 30 min/end, with 30 seconds additional time per move, starting from move 1.

Schedule: June 16 – Arrival, Technical Meeting, Opening Ceremony, June 17-21 and June 23-26 – Playing days, June 22 – Rest day, June 26 – Closing ceremony.

The venue is the Ugra Chess Academy, a modern building located in the city center. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies will take place at the Concert and Theatre Center Ugra-Classic.

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