The 2020 FIDE Online Olympiad is up and running, with the first pool games in the Base Division (Division 5) under way. Pool A has already finished for the day, with Myanmar and Fiji in the lead with 3 wins from 3 matches. The fact that Myanmar is leading isn't that much of a surprise, as they have a GM and IM on their top 2 boards, but Fiji are a bit of a dark horse. They have a pretty solid team, but the real secret is being organised, as a few of the other teams dropped points when players failed to log on for their games.
As with any new event there have been a few teething issues, but by the third round everybody was pretty much on board with how it was supposed to work. Even teams like Laos, who are pretty new to this sort of event managed to get connected and even won a match against Somalia.
The main difficulty so far is being able to watch all the games online from a single place. However, chess.com (the event hosts) are now providing links to the games and also an entertaining live stream. Just visit the chess.com homepage to find these.
The Base Division runs until Monday, with the top 4 teams from each pool being promoted to Division 4. That section will then start next Friday, with another 3 days of chess. It will be interesting to see how 'deep' into the tournament some of the bottom teams get, especially as there are a couple of underated teams seeded into the bottom section.
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