The Olympiad was initially supposed to take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the host of the Chess World Cup 2019, in August 2020, but it was later moved to Moscow.

The main venue of the Chess Olympiad was the convention centre at the Four Points by Sheraton, while the opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

[11] Each city bid had to be submitted to the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) by 31 March 2016, including details of the organising committee, finances, provision of amenities and stipends.

[12] The city of Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia) submitted the only original bid for the event,[13] although the national federations of Argentina and Slovakia had previously also expressed interest.

[21] Shortly after this announcement, the All India Chess Federation (AICF) expressed interest in hosting the events, in either Delhi, Gujarat or Tamil Nadu.

[33] Because the event was held during the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the Tamil Nadu Health Department deployed medical teams and 30 ambulances to perform COVID-19 screening at airports, hotels and venues.

[37][38] COVID-19 PCR testing was performed on a randomly selected two per cent of all arriving flight passengers at the airport, including players, coaches, support staff and visitors.

Due to the elevated risk of malaria and dengue fever, continuous fogging and spraying measures were deployed to prevent mosquito breeding.

[42] To prevent cheating using chess engines, players had to leave their mobile phones and any other electronic devices outside the playing halls.

It started on 19 July at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi, where FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed the torch to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who passed it to former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.

[43][44][45] The opening ceremony was held on 28 July at 16:00 IST (UTC+5:30) at the Nehru Indoor Stadium with an audience of more than 20,000 players, coaches and spectators.

He noted that the Olympiad would be held near the coastal town Sadurangapattinam, thought to be the home of chaturanga, a predecessor game to chess.

[65] Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, who contested the World Chess Championship 2023, both missed the tournament due to Russia's suspension and China's withdrawal, respectively.

[71] Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian and Wesley So, all top ten in the FIDE rankings, played for the United States.

[72] In the absence of Russia and China, the United States were regarded as favourites due to their average rating of 2771, higher than any other team.

[80] The heavily favoured US team failed to win a medal due to lacklustre performances from Caruana, who suffered three losses, and Aronian, who won only one game in the tournament.

[92] Since China withdrew and Russia was suspended, the other six players of the top ten were missing: Hou Yifan, highest rated woman player in the world; Ju Wenjun, current Women's World Champion and Tan Zhongyi from China, and Alexandra Kosteniuk, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno from Russia.

[93] The absence of Russia and China, which had together won the gold medal at nine of the eleven previous Olympiads, made India the first seed, with an average rating of 2486.

[52] Ukraine, with former Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina, were the second highest rated team averaging 2478,[94] while Georgia were seeded third with 2475.

On election day, each of the remaining candidates was allowed to speak to delegates for 15 minutes before the voting, in an order determined by drawing lots.

In that context, seven initiatives were planned to organise events and extend collaborations, including annual awards for women in various categories and a "Queen Pavilion" during the Chess Olympiad.

[116] On the first day of the Olympiad, the Queen's and Social Pavilion was opened by FIDE President Dvorkovich and Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola.

younger brother), a chess knight wearing a vēṭṭi (the ethnic Tamil male attire) and a white shirt.

[33] A private school in Perambur erected a 6,400-square-foot (590 m2) giant chessboard, opened by P. K. Sekar Babu, Tamil Nadu's minister of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, on which students played the pieces.

[127] The chessboard pattern also led to traffic congestion as people thronged to the bridge to take selfies and record videos for social media.

[130] The Olympiad was broadcast live on FIDE's official YouTube channel, with commentary by grandmasters Judit Polgár and Mihail Marin.

[73][142] Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjabov, the winner of the Chess World Cup 2019, did not play, due to the after-effects of a COVID-19 infection that he contracted after competing in the Candidates Tournament 2022.

Signatories included Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Peter Svidler, Andrey Esipenko and Daniil Dubov.

[146] Dmitry Andreikin, Alexandr Predke and Vladimir Fedoseev, who all played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 held in February and March, did not return to Russia and moved to North Macedonia, Uzbekistan and Spain, respectively.

Daniil Yuffa, Kirill Alekseenko and Nikita Vitiugov also moved to Spain, while Alexey Sarana stayed in Belgrade after participating in a tournament there.