Division 3 of the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad is well underway, with the final Pool matches being played today. As mentioned in my earlier preview, a number of teams are string to field GM's, although in the Scotland v Zambia match, it was an IM that triumphed.
With the ACT currently under Covid restrictions, the ACT Junior Chess League is organising the Under 16 Championship as an online, Zoom supervised event. Borrowing heavily from the Online Olympiad (and similar international tournaments), 32 players are taking part in the tournament. It is a 7 round swiss with a time limit of 30m+30s.
As one of the arbiters, I can say it has gone pretty well. The two main issues are essentially the same as in any normal junior event, with the players taking too little time over their moves, and parents not understanding the tournament process.
The quality of play is a little mixed (mainly do to the rushed moves), but when they slow down, the games can be quite hard fought. Here is one such game from the 2nd round, with the winner being the youngest player in the event (at 6 years old).
The 2021 Online Olympiad Division 3 begins tomorrow, with a couple of surprise qualifiers. Fiji, who finished 4th in Div 4 Pool A, was one such surprise, with Hong Kong being unable to continue in the competition after losing one of their players (and not having any replacements). At least one other 4th paced team from another pool went through (late) after one of the Div 3 teams had to pull out.
Each new division sees the addition of stronger players, with the first GM's making an appearance. Both Scotland (Pool C) and Uruguay (Pool D) have 2 GM's turning out, while a couple of other teams have one.
Pool A begins at 6pm (Canberra time), Friday 27 August, with the other pools starting at 2 hour intervals. Top 3 teams from each pool qualify for the next Division (Div 2), where the competition begins to get really serious.
The third an final day of 2021 Chess Olympiad Division 4 saw an exciting finish to some of the pools. With the top 3 in each pool qualifying for the next stage, it sometimes came down to the last few games, especially when competing teams were playing each other.
In Pool C (which I was working on), Jersey suffered at the hands of the pairing gods, playing their 3 closest challengers in the last 3 rounds. A narrow loss to Cyprus, and heavy losses to Ethiopia and Angola, saw them slip to 4th place behind these 3.
In Pool A, Fiji hoped to do the opposite, finishing with some easier pairings, but a round 9 loss to Lebanon left them 1 win short of qualifying, despite finishing with 3 victories. Hong Kong and Nepal qualify alongside Lebanon (NB All results are provisional until Fair Play checks are finished)
Pool B saw Kenya, Namibia and Palestine all get promoted, along with 4th placed Malawi, who took the extra spot set aside for the best 4th place finisher. Pool D had Suriname, Aruba and Ghana well ahead of the rest of the field, while Pool E promoted Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti.
Division 3 starts on Friday 6pm (Canberra time). Each pool in this division contains 10 teams, with the top 3 teams moving up to Division 2. Of interest to reginal readers is the debut of New Zealand, who will most likely be in Pool A (based on their time zone)
The second day of the 2021 Online Chess Olympiad saw 4 games in each pool, and went a long way to determining who will get promoted to Division 3 next weekend. In Pool A Hong Kong and Nepal are out in front, on 13 and 12 points respectively. Lebanon and Maldives are in contention for the 3rd place, although Fiji has an outside chance if qualifying, having a fairly easy run home.
Pool B is a lot closer, with Kenya, Malawi, Palestine and Namibia all still in the running. Pool C has Angola, Cyprus and Jersey well in front, but they all have to play each other on the final day, which may allow other teams to sneak through.
Pool D is still to close to call, with teams in places 3 to 6 all within 1 point of each other. Pool E is another that is almost settled, with Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti a match and half clear of 4th place.
The final 4 games for each pool are being played this evening (Canberra time) starting at 6pm. There is live commentary on youtube, chess.com and no doubt, other sites. The top 3 teams from each pool get promoted to Division 3, along with the best scoring 4th paced team, replacing the now withdrawn Afghanistan team.
The first day of the 2021 Online Chess Olympiad began with 60 teams in action. Due to the varying levels of infrastructure around the world, some teams were able to play with all players present, while others had to make do with whoever could maintain a stable internet connection. As a consequence not all teams were able to perform to pre-tournament expectations, which leaves the competition for promotion places wide open.
I was a spectator for a couple of Pools (A and B), and was a pool arbiter for Pool C. This involved teams from Africa and Europe, and the results were either feast or famine. Five teams won all their matches to be on 6 match points, while 5 teams lost all of theirs to be on 0. The middle 2 teams one 1 match, drew against each other and lost 1 match. On tie-break, Angola and Ethiopia hold down the top 2 places, with Jersey, Malta and Cyprus close together, battling for third.
Just like last year, the strength of the lower division teams can sometimes be mixed, with a couple of strong players on the top boards, and lower rated players further down. However Angola has turned out a consistently strong team, as shown by the following board 1 game.
The 2021 Online Chess Olympiad starts in a few hours. Division 4 is the starting division this year, with Pool A the first pool to kick off. It consists of teams in Asia (including Oceania) including Fiji, Guam and Hong Kong. The top 3 teams from this pool (and each of the Division 4 pools) qualify for the next round (Division 3). Pool A begins at 6pm Canberra time, and there will be 3 rounds today with 4 rounds on Saturday and Sunday. Based on rating, Pakistan and Lebanon look like the favourites to qualify, but Fiji and Guam are in with a chance to take 3rd, along with a few other teams.
There should be plenty of life coverage of the games, which will be hosted on chess.com. Details from chess.com are here while the official FIDE stream is at https://onlineolympiad.fide.com/stream
(** I am a paid official for this event, although I will not be involved in Pool A for this round **)
