Bangladesh aims to match previous high

Bangladesh hope to keep their 33rd position intact in next month's Chess Olympiad in Norway, although it will be a tough task to retain their position in the last edition given the current calibre of Bangladesh Grand Masters.
“You all would love to see the Bangladesh chess team finish between 20 to 25 in the upcoming Olympiad following our last edition's result, but the reality is that to go above 30 we will need Grand Masters who have ratings above 2600 and we don't have such GMs. But we will try to keep our position intact in the coming Olympiad,” said 2512 rated GM Abdullah Al Rakib at an official press conference at the Bangladesh Chess Federation Hall Room yesterday.
Both Bangladesh men's and women's team are scheduled to leave here on July 30 to take part in the 41st Olympiad to be held in Tromso, Norway from August 1 to 15.      
Rakib, who had been the most successful Bangladeshi player in the last Olympiad, believes that they had performed above their calibre in the last Olympiad and vows to give their all to finish between the 33rd and 35th places, among 181 participating nations.     
Bangladesh Chess Federation last month flew in Russian-born Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov to train the men's squad, which consists of four GMs -- Niaz Murshed, Ziaur Rahman, Rakib, Enamul Hossain Razib and IM Minhazuddin Ahmed Sagar -- for one month and it is believed that the players have been benefited substantially from the guidance of the former World Number 11 GM Tiviakov.