Team USA Lineup for FIDE Online Olympiad

The first FIDE Online Olympiad is scheduled for July 22 through August 30, 2020. Team USA will not begin play until August 19 when the Top Division begins; this is because our team finished in the top 5 at the 2018 Gaprindashvili Cup (which combined the results of the Open and Women’s sections at the Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018). US Chess is grateful to the Saint Louis Chess Club for their sponsorship of our team.

TEAM USA

Open Players
Image GM Wesley So	Image GM Sam Shankland	Image GM Ray Robson
Women Players
Image IM Carissa Yip	Image IM Anna Zatonskih	Image WGM Tatev Abrahamyan
Junior Players and Captain
Image GM Jeffery Xiong	Image IM Annie Wang	Image IM John Donaldson

Although some of our elite players are not participating, US Chess is fielding a strong team with previous Olympiad experience and our Under-20 players are both ranked among the top-10 juniors in the world.

The Online Olympiad is a national team event in which all federations affiliated to FIDE have the right to participate. The teams for each match will consist of six players: two Open, two Women, one Open Under-20, and one Girls Under-20. Each team can also have up to six reserve players, one for each position, although Team USA will have only two, one each for the Open and Women positions. All games will be played online at a time control of G/15 +5.

The Top Division group stage will be held from August 19-23 and this is where Team USA enters the competition. Each group will consist of 10 teams with the top 3 teams from each group advancing to the play-offs that begin on August 27. Team USA will be one of 5 seeded teams in the group stage, which means that our likelihood of facing the powerhouse teams of China, Russia, Ukraine, and India is heavily reduced.

You can help support our Olympiad Teams by clicking here and selecting the “Olympiad Teams” option.

Photos Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club. IM John Donaldson photo by Austin Fuller, Courtesy of World Chess Hall of Fame.