2010 Chess Olympiad mania begins in Chessdom

2010 Chess Olympiad extravaganza starts early in Chessdom! Still seven months before the start of Khanty Mansiysk Olympiad this coming September 19 and will run till October 4, Chessdom has given us some early updates about the event and promised to feature more news and current development about the Olympiad in a weekly basis.

I believe that there will be major changes in the selection of Philippine team this year. One might still remember that the selection of players to 2008 Dresden Olympiad creates some controversies. Below is excerpts from Chessdom.com.

The story of the 2010 Chess Olympiad

There were six bidders to host the 2010 Chess Olympiad. Among them were Poznan (bidding for August 2010 in Poland), Riga (14 to 30 May in Latvia), Tallinn (September in Estonia), Budva (October in Serbia and Montenegro), Buenos Aires (November in Argentina), and Khanty Mansiysk Autonomous Region-Yugra (September 2010).

The final decision was made at the FIDE general assembly in Turin. Khanty Mansiysk emerged as favourite in the FIDE voting where representatives of 135 countries gathered to decide the host nation for 2010 Olympiad, the biggest team championship in the world.

Here is how the voting proceeded:

Round 1: Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS) – 45 votes, Buenos Aires (ARG) – 39 votes, Budva (SCG) – 36 votes, Riga (LAT) - 13 votes, Poznan (POL) – 12 votes.

Round 2: Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS) – 53 votes, Buenos Aires (ARG ) – 38 votes, Budva (SCG) – 46 votes.

Round 3: Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS) – 71 votes, Budva (SCG) – 64 votes.

Russia has organized the Chess Olympiad three times so far: 1956 (Soviet Union), 1994 and 1998.