The biennial Chess Olympiad is one of the world's biggest sporting events, and the most important teams event on the world chess calendar.
The 40th Olympiad is being held in the historic city of Istanbul where Turkey crosses the Bosporus from Europe into Asia.
Australia will be fielding an open and a women's team, each five of our best available players plus a team captain.
Unlike most competing nations, the Australian teams receive no government support and must pay their own way, a burden compounded by the distance involved from Australia to Turkey and the corresponding high air fares. They can't do it alone, but depend on the support of the Australian chess community. The more direct route via Dubai is expensive at that time of year; the cheapest available fares (on which the appeal target is based) involve trans-China flights over 34 hours with three flight changes along the way (Guangzhou, Beijing and Urumqi) - a trip not for the faint-hearted!
We ask you all to give what you can to the ACF Olympiad Appeal. No donation is too large or too small - all will get the teams that much closer to Istanbul and will be acknowledged on this site.
