If you want to follow the action you can do so via https://www.chess.com/events/-/2020-fide-online-olympiad The only issue is that the pairings aren't listed by team, so you have to click on particular games before you see who is playing for who. Of course if you are an avid follower (like myself), you will soon recognise the names and therefore their counties.
Friday, 31 July 2020
2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad - Division 4
Division 4 of the 2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad is about to start. This Division consists of 38 seeded teems as well as the 12 teams the qualified from the Base Division. There will be 5 pools of 10 teams each, with the top 3 teams from each pool being promoted to Division 3.
Wednesday, 29 July 2020
A very tough game
While chess.com is mainly used by fast chess players, there is an active 'turn based' community on there as well. While I'm not super involved, I do play a few 2 or 3 days per move games, just to kepp my CC skills up.
The following game was very tough for me, and for a long time I wasn't sure how I was going to win it. It was only around move 50 that I started to get on top, as if I hadn't been able to get my queen to f4 then I couldn't see any other winning chances.
On the hand I'm gald my opponent did play so well, as this event was a tournament for PNG players, and he is likely to be a member of the PNG Olympiad team in 2021(?).
L0rd_V0ldermort (1830) - shaunpress (2403) [C55]
PNG Tournament March 2020 Chess.com, 28.03.2020
The following game was very tough for me, and for a long time I wasn't sure how I was going to win it. It was only around move 50 that I started to get on top, as if I hadn't been able to get my queen to f4 then I couldn't see any other winning chances.
On the hand I'm gald my opponent did play so well, as this event was a tournament for PNG players, and he is likely to be a member of the PNG Olympiad team in 2021(?).
L0rd_V0ldermort (1830) - shaunpress (2403) [C55]
PNG Tournament March 2020 Chess.com, 28.03.2020
Tuesday, 28 July 2020
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad - Day 3
The final 3 rounds of the Base Division of the 2020 FIDE Online Olympiad have been played, and the 12 teams going through to the next round have been decided.
In Pool A, Myanmar qualified as expected, but the 2nd place finish of Brunei was a bit of a surprise. Pakistan and Oman tied for 3rd on 13 match points, with Pakistan ahead on game points. 5th place Fiji could be proud of their efforts especially as an extra win against either Pakistan or Oman would have qualified them instead (They narrowly lost both matches 2.5-3.5).
In Pool B Lebanon was the dominant team , with Qatar and Bahrain finishing 2nd and 3rd. Liberia and Burundi tied for 4th on 10 match points, with Liberia going through with 28.5 game points to 27. Burundi's drawn match with San Marino was the difference, especially as San Marino only fielded 3 players in each match (as they had no female players).
Pool C was even closer, with 3 teams tied for 4th. Cyprus was the runaway winner of this group, with Aruba in 2nd and Haiti third. Mauritania, Libya and Saint Lucia all tied on 10 match points, but it was Mauritania's 3 6-0 wins over the bottom teams that provided them with a much better game point total than the other 2.
Division 4 starts this Friday (31st July) at 6pm Canberra time. With 5 pools in this Division, the start times are every 2 hours, with Pool A consisting mainly of Asian teams. After that the groups are generally geographical, with care taken to make the group strengths even.
Sikivou,Taione (1865) - Yousuf,Azeem Makhdoomi (1779) [A00]
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad Chess.com (7.5), 27.07.2020
In Pool A, Myanmar qualified as expected, but the 2nd place finish of Brunei was a bit of a surprise. Pakistan and Oman tied for 3rd on 13 match points, with Pakistan ahead on game points. 5th place Fiji could be proud of their efforts especially as an extra win against either Pakistan or Oman would have qualified them instead (They narrowly lost both matches 2.5-3.5).
In Pool B Lebanon was the dominant team , with Qatar and Bahrain finishing 2nd and 3rd. Liberia and Burundi tied for 4th on 10 match points, with Liberia going through with 28.5 game points to 27. Burundi's drawn match with San Marino was the difference, especially as San Marino only fielded 3 players in each match (as they had no female players).
Pool C was even closer, with 3 teams tied for 4th. Cyprus was the runaway winner of this group, with Aruba in 2nd and Haiti third. Mauritania, Libya and Saint Lucia all tied on 10 match points, but it was Mauritania's 3 6-0 wins over the bottom teams that provided them with a much better game point total than the other 2.
Division 4 starts this Friday (31st July) at 6pm Canberra time. With 5 pools in this Division, the start times are every 2 hours, with Pool A consisting mainly of Asian teams. After that the groups are generally geographical, with care taken to make the group strengths even.
Sikivou,Taione (1865) - Yousuf,Azeem Makhdoomi (1779) [A00]
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad Chess.com (7.5), 27.07.2020
Monday, 27 July 2020
2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad Day 2
After the second day of the 2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad, the potential qualifiers from the Base Division are becoming clearer. In Pool A (which I am an arbiter for), Myanmar has won all 6 matches so far and will qualify. Below them Brunei (10), Oman (9), Fiji (8) and Pakistan (7) are battling for the remaining 3 promotion spots. Fiji and Pakistan have a match in hand as the entire country of Somalia lost their internet connection yesterday, and they will hopefully be playing these deferred games today. The crucial match will be Fiji v Pakistan as this will probably decide the final qualifier.
In Pool B Lebanon are easily winning, and some are tipping them to qualify from their next division (Div 4) as well. Bahrain, Burundi and Qatar are the next 3 teams, and should qualify, although Liberia (3 points back) have a slightly easier set of Day 3 pairings and may make a late charge.
Pool C is quite competitive, although Cyprus (12) should have no problem going through to the next division. Then there is a group of 6 teams who all have chances, depending upon the final day results.
I was going to feature an interesting game from one of the divisions, where a player was checkmated with 30 of the 32 pieces still on the board (it was a smothered mate btw). But on closer inspection, I saw that the winner hung their queen at one point (which was then missed by the opponent), and slightly quicker mate, (with all pieces on the board) was missed. Instead I will direct you to http://chess-results.com/tnr530722.aspx?lan=1 which show the standings for Pool A, as well as giving you links to the other pools. There is also a link on the page to allow you to view and download the games played so far.
In Pool B Lebanon are easily winning, and some are tipping them to qualify from their next division (Div 4) as well. Bahrain, Burundi and Qatar are the next 3 teams, and should qualify, although Liberia (3 points back) have a slightly easier set of Day 3 pairings and may make a late charge.
Pool C is quite competitive, although Cyprus (12) should have no problem going through to the next division. Then there is a group of 6 teams who all have chances, depending upon the final day results.
I was going to feature an interesting game from one of the divisions, where a player was checkmated with 30 of the 32 pieces still on the board (it was a smothered mate btw). But on closer inspection, I saw that the winner hung their queen at one point (which was then missed by the opponent), and slightly quicker mate, (with all pieces on the board) was missed. Instead I will direct you to http://chess-results.com/tnr530722.aspx?lan=1 which show the standings for Pool A, as well as giving you links to the other pools. There is also a link on the page to allow you to view and download the games played so far.
Saturday, 25 July 2020
2020 FIDE Online Olympiad - Day 1
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.
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.
Friday, 24 July 2020
2020 Online Chess Olympiad starts tommorow
The 2020 FIDE Online Olympiad starts tomorrow, with the first pool of matches. The event sees 163 teams broken up into 5 divisions, with a promotion system used to help determine the eventual winners. The tournaments starts with the 'base' division (or Division 5), where there will be 3 pools of 10 teams. They will play a round robin over 3 days, with the top 4 teams in each pool being promoted to join the next 38 teams in Division 4. After that there will be 5 pools of 10, with 15 teams being promoted, joining another 35 teams.
Today was a trial run for the playing teams, and also for the organising team. Various aspects of the event were tested (including automatically starting games), and thankfully everything pretty much worked. The main concern for tomorrow is seeing everyone turn up on time, and avoiding any connection issues from the home countries.
Pool play begins at 5pm Canberra time, with 3 rounds, each starting on the hour. Pool B and Pool C will also start tomorrow, at 10om, and 3am (the next day) respectively.
(NB I will post links to the online coverage when they become publicly available)
Today was a trial run for the playing teams, and also for the organising team. Various aspects of the event were tested (including automatically starting games), and thankfully everything pretty much worked. The main concern for tomorrow is seeing everyone turn up on time, and avoiding any connection issues from the home countries.
Pool play begins at 5pm Canberra time, with 3 rounds, each starting on the hour. Pool B and Pool C will also start tomorrow, at 10om, and 3am (the next day) respectively.
(NB I will post links to the online coverage when they become publicly available)
Tournament Number 3
As of last night, the ACT Chess Association has organised 15 online Blitz events, 18 online Rapid events and 3 online Standard events since early March 2020. While numbers for some of the events have been a little low (especially the Monday blitz events), they have been well received my the Canberra chess community.
Last night the third Standard event finished with a win for Matt Radisich, who scored 5.5/6. This was the second tournament win for Matt in this series, having won the first standard tournament with the same score.
While I have seen comments about the unsuitability of long time control events in online chess, these events seem to be working well for us. The time limit of 45m+15s is the right balance between what would be used in club chess, and not to long as to drag out the evening. One round per week is also good, and the length of the event (6 weeks) is also similar to a normal club event. But probably the best proof that the format is working (at least for those that entered), is that there were no withdrawals from the tournament, and only one case of players forgetting to turn up.
So well done everyone!
Last night the third Standard event finished with a win for Matt Radisich, who scored 5.5/6. This was the second tournament win for Matt in this series, having won the first standard tournament with the same score.
While I have seen comments about the unsuitability of long time control events in online chess, these events seem to be working well for us. The time limit of 45m+15s is the right balance between what would be used in club chess, and not to long as to drag out the evening. One round per week is also good, and the length of the event (6 weeks) is also similar to a normal club event. But probably the best proof that the format is working (at least for those that entered), is that there were no withdrawals from the tournament, and only one case of players forgetting to turn up.
So well done everyone!
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