A total of 185 countries have registered to participate in the event, with 186 teams entering the open session and 156 in the women’s competition.

The figure breaks the record of 179 countries set at the last Chess Olympiad held in Batumi in Georgia in 2018.

However, there will be no China at the event after the Asian nation opted not to send a team to Chennai.

China won both the women’s and open titles when the tournament was last held in person in 2018.

There will also be no Russian or Belarusian teams at the Chess Olympiad after they were banned by FIDE in response to the war in Ukraine.

Russian capital Moscow had been chosen to stage this year’s event only to be stripped of the hosting rights following FIDE’s ruling to stop all tournaments from taking place in Russia.

India is now set to hold the Chess Olympiad for the first time, with the Four Points by Sheraton selected as the venue.

Norway's grandmaster Magnus Carlsen is the biggest name in the field as he looks to steer his nation to open glory.

The Norwegian team is ranked third among those in the open section and is expected to challenge for a medal.

"It is going to be awesome to be back in Chennai again as it has been nine years since one of the greatest experiences of my chess career in terms of winning my first ever World Chess Championship against Viswanathan Anand in 2013," said Carlsen.

"Those are fantastic memories to revisit and I am looking forward to making new ones."

The United States are the top ranked team in the open category, with hosts India second.

"Both Indian teams have a very strong and impressive line of line of players and I think both have a chance to be among the medals," said Carlsen.

Competition is due to start tomorrow and finish at August 10.