Israel is also making history by becoming the first country to host two different world chess championships in the same year.
By Pesach Benson ,TPS
The World Team Chess Championships kicked off in Jerusalem on Sunday.
Delegations of players from the USA, China, Spain, France, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, India, Ukraine, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa are vying with Israel for the championship.
Willy Iclicki, Special Projects Manager for the International Chess Federation, which organized the tournament, told Tazpit Press Service that the competition will feature some of the world’s top chess players.
“It will be a very big fight,” Iclicki said.
Among the players attending is 19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Nieman, who has been accused of cheating by Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. Nieman responded by filing a $100 million lawsuit accusing Carlsen of defamation.
The Israeli national team will be the first in the world to be led by a female captain – Ilana David.
Other chess notables attending are Anish Giri, of the Netherlands, a chess prodigy who earned the grandmaster title at the age of 14, and Nodirbek Yakubboev and Javokhir Sindarov, two members of the Uzbek team that took first place at the World Chess Olympiad in August.
The tournament will conclude on Nov. 25.
Israel is also making history by becoming the first country to host two different world chess championships in the same year. Ashdod was the venue for the Internationally Physically Disabled Chess Association championship in May.
