Be a part of history – Support US Chess in Olympic Glory

The US Chess Olympic team made history in 2016, capturing gold for the first time in 40 years at the fiercely competitive team event, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. We urge US Chess members to build on the legacy of our successful Olympic quest and support the continual training of our Olympic Squads, both Open and Women.

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The Golden 2016 team: Robson, Donaldson, Shankland, Nakamura, Caruana and So.

Our victorious Open team in 2016 consisted of three of the World's top ten players, including Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. Wesley So, now the #2 player in the World, held down board three in Baku, earning an individual gold medal for the US team. Renowned team players Sam Shankland, our reigning US Champion and Ray Robson were also members of the winning squad, which was captained by International Master John Donaldson and coached by Grandmaster Aleksander Lenderman. The same victorious team is coming back to the 2018 Olympiad set for Sept 23-October 6 in Batumi, Georgia. 

I like the U.S. team’s chances of being only the second country besides Armenia to repeat as champions in the post-Kasparov era. It won’t be easy as Russia and China will also field teams with similar average ratings to the U.S. and India (with Anand), Azerbaijan and Ukraine will be over 2700 average rating per board. It’s really great Fabiano is back again heading the team. The Olympiad should be the perfect final tune-up before the World Championship.

A short documentary on US Chess "Path to Gold" premiered at the opening of Global Moves: Americans at Chess Olympiads. The movie featured all gold medal team-members and was produced by Spectrum Studios.

Dating back to 1924, the Chess Olympiad is the most prestigious chess team event on the calendar. In addition to battling for team and individual medals, it’s also a multicultural event that shows how chess crosses boundaries of nationality, age, gender, and background. Because the formula for US Olympic invitation takes activity and age into account, this event is a perfect training ground for our young talents.

In May 2015, The Guardian noted the strength of our team, bolstered by youthful talents, “They can call on the rising talents Sam Shankland, 23, and Ray Robson, 20, as well as the new prodigy Samuel Sevian, 14,” and emphasized that despite the U.S.’s strong ranking, “Some governments value these titles for national prestige and both China and Russia are likely to respond strongly to the U.S."

In 2009, US Chess established the Phillip LeCornu Memorial Olympiad Fund with a generous bequest from the late Mr. LeCornu, a former US Chess Life Member and former Michigan Open Champion. This ongoing campaign continues this spirit of giving for gold.

Support our team today by making a donation to US Chess.