A necessary new experience for chess players

Following the deferment of the 44th Chess Olympiad by a year, the world governing body of chess, FIDE, has come forward to introduce FIDE Online Olympiad, a team competition where all members will get the opportunity to compete amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Bangladesh has already sent names of a six-player pool and a reserve team of six players on Saturday, five days before the closing date of entry. The tournament will take place from July 22 and August 30.

Usually each FIDE member sends two teams to Chess Olympiad -- men's and women's, who complete separately while four players compete in each round. But the Online Olympiad will see each country represented by one team of six players – two senior male players, two senior female players, one U-20 player male player and one U-20 female player. All six players will compete in 15-minute games in each round.

Defending national champion GM Niaz Murshed, third-place finisher GM Reefat Bin Sattar [runner-up GM Abdullah Al Rakib withdrew], national women's champion WIM Rani Hamid, runner-up WIM Sharmin Sultana Shirin, IM Fahad Rahman (U-20) and Ahmed Walijah (U-20) will represent Bangladesh in the tournament.

FM Taibur Rahman, GM Ziaur Rahman, Samiha Shimmi, Nazrana Khan Eva, Tajwar Tahsin Zia and Nowshin Anjum are in the reserve team and they can replace players from the main team.

The Online Olympiad will be played in five stages as the participating teams, split into five divisions from Base to Top, will play in each stage even though some top teams will get byes depending on their ranking. Each division is expected to feature 50 teams from where the top 15 teams will qualify for the next division.

"We still don't know whether we will have to play in base division or play directly in fourth or third division. It will be clear once the entry is completed on July 16," Bangladesh Chess Federation's general secretary Syed Shahabuddin Shamim said yesterday.

Shamim informed that the players will have to play three rounds on three successive days with the qualifying stage starting from July 22.

"We have discussed at the executive committee meeting whether the players can share online chess experience among themselves as some players play online regularly while others have less experience. Besides, some members proposed whether it is possible to bring all six players under a roof to provide better environment with uninterrupted internet facility," Shamim said, adding that they were supposed to sit again yesterday to discuss the issues and select a captain and vice-captain for the team.