Chess players from at least 150 nations are assiduously refining their techniques in preparation for the world’s most pre-eminent team tournament, the spectacular Chess Olympiad. It is to be held in Tromso, Norway, from August 1-14, 2014, the forty-first of its kind. This huge chess Olympiad has been held every two years beginning in 1927, and with more than 150 participating countries, it is the world’s third largest sporting event.
Around 600 million people play chess worldwide, and Norway is home to the world’s finest chess player, Magnus Carlsen. According to the Hungarian grandmaster Susan Polgar, founder of the world’s most popular chess blog and the Susan Polgar foundation, there is “an ambition of 100 million unique internet spectators [who will observe the games] through the Olympiads internet portals.’’ In the 2012 Olympiad which was held in Istanbul, Turkey, 157 teams participated in the men’s