Olympiad - 2024

[Hans Jung]

All Women Team top-5 players have accepted the invitation as well. Personally, I am very optimistic about this line-up.

Average rating this year: 2207.

In 5 previous Olympiads the average was:

2012 - 2024
2014 - 2144
2016 - 2144
2018 - 2168
2022 - 1996 (4 players)

I also really like the compostion of this team. I would have liked to see A. Botez there but realize she is not quite as strong as the top five. But she seems to be slowly improving. As it is we have five solid master strength players.

[Hans Jung]

Thanks Erik. Your details really help to see the big picture.

[Neil Frarey]

Kevin Spraggett is the only player with a Canadian flag to play in the Candidates so he was part of the display in the Fan Zone I had for the last weekend at this year's Candidates. (Other highlighted players were Evgeny Bareev and Nava Starr).

Kevin Spraggett was on eight Olympiad teams:
2002 Bled
2000 Istanbul
1998 Elista
1996 Yerevan
1994 Moscow
1992 Manila
1990 Novi Sad
1986 Dubai

He won the 2nd place on second board prize in 2000. He scored +7=4-1, 75%, with a 2682 performance rating. He defeated 4 GMs and 3 IMs.

In 1992 he was 61.5%, 20th for first board, performance rating of 2482.

Over all 8 Olympiads he scored +33=37-21, 56.6%.

He is fourth highest for points scored, 51.5, behind Yanofsky (in 11 olympiads), Day (13 Olympiads), and Suttles (8 Olympiads).

Other Canadian team members who have scored 75% include:
Eric Hansen (82% on Board 4 in 2016, performance rating 2734 and 2646 in 2012, 2643 in 2022)
Nikolay Noritsyn
Thomas Roussel-Roozmon
Tomas Krnan
Anton Kovalyov (2nd on Board 2 2016, performance rating 2852 and 2670 in 2014)
Peter Biyiasas (2nd Board 2 1978, 3rd Board 1 in 1976 (2607), 3rd Board 4 1972)
Deen Hergott (3rd Reserve in 1990)
Frank Anderson (top overall on Board 2 in 1954 and 1954, but played in second group of finals)

Lawrence Day was 73% (3rd on Board 3 in 1986, performance rating of 2524)
Jean Hebert 71% (3rd on Board 3 in 1982, performance rating of 2583)
Raja Panjwani 72% (Board 2 in 2022, performance rating 2619)
Yan Teplitsky and Mark Bluvshtein in 2002 72% and 73%, performance rating of 2614 and 2524

Thanks Erik! Seems that we consistently punch above our weight.

[Erik Malmsten]

Chesstastic!!

Over the course of how many years, Hugh?

Kevin Spraggett is the only player with a Canadian flag to play in the Candidates so he was part of the display in the Fan Zone I had for the last weekend at this year's Candidates. (Other highlighted players were Evgeny Bareev and Nava Starr).

Kevin Spraggett was on eight Olympiad teams:
2002 Bled
2000 Istanbul
1998 Elista
1996 Yerevan
1994 Moscow
1992 Manila
1990 Novi Sad
1986 Dubai

He won the 2nd place on second board prize in 2000. He scored +7=4-1, 75%, with a 2682 performance rating. He defeated 4 GMs and 3 IMs.

In 1992 he was 61.5%, 20th for first board, performance rating of 2482.

Over all 8 Olympiads he scored +33=37-21, 56.6%.

He is fourth highest for points scored, 51.5, behind Yanofsky (in 11 olympiads), Day (13 Olympiads), and Suttles (8 Olympiads).

Other Canadian team members who have scored 75% include:
Eric Hansen (82% on Board 4 in 2016, performance rating 2734 and 2646 in 2012, 2643 in 2022)
Nikolay Noritsyn
Thomas Roussel-Roozmon
Tomas Krnan
Anton Kovalyov (2nd on Board 2 2016, performance rating 2852 and 2670 in 2014)
Peter Biyiasas (2nd Board 2 1978, 3rd Board 1 in 1976 (2607), 3rd Board 4 1972)
Deen Hergott (3rd Reserve in 1990)
Frank Anderson (top overall on Board 2 in 1954 and 1954, but played in second group of finals)

Lawrence Day was 73% (3rd on Board 3 in 1986, performance rating of 2524)
Jean Hebert 71% (3rd on Board 3 in 1982, performance rating of 2583)
Raja Panjwani 72% (Board 2 in 2022, performance rating 2619)
Yan Teplitsky and Mark Bluvshtein in 2002 72% and 73%, performance rating of 2614 and 2524

[Ian Findlay]

Wonderful news! Good luck to Canada. Maybe this is an understatement, but we seem to be experiencing a chess boom in this country. Hopefully our Olympiad results will bear this out.

[Victor Plotkin]

All Women Team top-5 players have accepted the invitation as well. Personally, I am very optimistic about this line-up.

Average rating this year: 2207.

In 5 previous Olympiads the average was:

2012 - 2024
2014 - 2144
2016 - 2144
2018 - 2168
2022 - 1996 (4 players)

[Bob Armstrong]

I think we'll see some of them raise their FIDE ratings!

Bob A

[Victor Plotkin]

Absolutely. But also we have no 2600 players, like on last 4 Olympiads.

[Hans Jung]

The low average rating might have to do with Shiyam's rating which is remarkably low compared with his skill level.

[Victor Plotkin]

Good blend of experience and youth.

Some statistics about age and experience. Comparison with previous rosters:

Average age:

2012 - 29.4
2014 - 25.4
2016 - 33.4
2018 - 30.0
2022 - 29.8

2024 - 28.8 (second youngest)

Average rating:

2012 - 2467
2014 - 2535
2016 - 2563
2018 - 2556
2022 - 2483

2024 - 2456 (the lowest)

Experience:

Nikolay - number 6 (!) Olympiad
Razvan - 3rd
Raja - 2nd
Shawn, Shiyam - 1st

[Hans Jung]

Good blend of experience and youth.

[Victor Plotkin]

I am very happy to report that all top-5 eligible players accepted the invitation for the National Team.

[Victor Plotkin]

Women Team

1. WGM M.-J.Ouellet - the Champion
2. WIM Yunshan Li - 2344 = (2268+2379)/2 + 20
3. WIM S.Demchenko - 2280 = (2168+2331)/2 + 20 + 10
4. WIM B.Pham - 2245 = (2199+2290)/2
5. WFM O.Golubeva - 2182 = (2119+2245)/2
6. WFM A.Botez - 2095 = (1971+2239)/2 - 10
7. WFM R.Chen - 2070 = (2222+1938)/2 - 10
8. WFM M.Mills - 2054 = (2013+2094)/2
9. WFM C.Qiao - 2011 = (1894+2147)/2 - 10
10. Yilin Li - 2007 = (1919+2094)/2

[Victor Plotkin]

Actually, amazing how many times FIDE calculated it wrong yesterday.

Now, the "very final" list for Open Olympiad. Hopefully, I will post the list for Women Olympiad later today.

1. IM S.Thavandiran - the Champion
2. GM S.Rodrigue-Lemieux - 2536 (2516+10+10)
3. IM N.Noritsyn - 2470 (2450+20)
4. GM R.Preotu - 2463
5. IM R.Panjwani - 2461
6. GM B.Sambuev - 2455
7. IM A.Atanasov - 2437 (2417+20)
8. GM K.Spraggett - 2430 (2440-10)
9. IM T.Krnan - 2423 (2433-10)
10. IM S.Krisna - 2404

The gap between number 3 and number 6 is just 15 points. A very tight race this year. Also, all top-7 players from this list played in Zonal, I don't remember a similar situation in previous campaigns.

[Hugh Brodie]

Chesstastic!!

Over the course of how many years, Hugh?

Between 1986 and 2002.