A proud record

The biennial Chess Olympiad is one of the world’s largest sporting events, and the premier teams event on the global chess calendar. After a succession of Asian venues in recent years, the Olympiad returns to Europe – Budapest, the Hungarian capitol, is hosting the 45th Olympiad.

Australia has performed remarkably well against the rest of the world. We have contested every Olympiad since 1968, our open team tying for 25th place (of 187) and our women tying for 35th (of 161) at the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai.

Again this year Australia will be one of the expected 190 nations competing, fielding an open and a women’s team (each five players plus captain) of our best available players.

…but there’s a catch

…the Australian nemesis, the tyranny of distance – Australia is a long way from just about anywhere. As airlines recover from the Covid-19 downturn, the days of cheap fares are yet to return. By departing on 6th September and delaying the return flight till 24th September, China Eastern is the best available (at mid-March, but fares change almost daily), with a $1561 return fare from Sydney via Shanghai to Budapest – 28 hours outbound and 36 hours homeward bound (via Wuhan, Xi-An and Shanghai).

While other national teams receive government support, our teams must meet their own travel costs.

That’s where you come in. The teams need your support to represent us. Please give what you can to the appeal.

All donations will be acknowledged here and in the ACF email bulletin. The Australian Chess Federation will match all donations dollar-for-dollar up to half of the total cost, leaving an estimated $11000 to be raised, including incidental costs such as FIDE registration and entry fees; and uniform costs.

Donations Received!

It’s been a rocky road to the 44th Chess Olympiad, scheduled to be held in 2020. The host city was originally Khanty-Mansiysk but was leter transferred to Moscow. The COVID pandemic forced postponement to 2022, then Russia invaded Ukraine and Moscow became politically untenable. India stepped up at very short notice to organise the event in Chennai, starting on 26 July.

Our teams have now been selected – see http://acfappeal.aunz.org/teams.html With an all-GM open team for the first time and a women’s team spearheaded by two WGMs, Australia is poised to gain its best-ever result.