After the overwhelming success of the first-ever online chess Olympiad in 2020, FIDE is back with the second edition this August. The event kicked off on 20th August with pools of 12 teams each and will conclude on the 15th of September.
The online chess Olympiad is a national event where chess federations from across the globe, affiliated with FIDE are entitled to participate. The event is held online on chess.com and has two levels: one is the Division stage, which has four divisions, and another is the Play-offs stage.
The games have a duration of 15 minutes with an extra 5 minutes per move control. The rapid chess matches will have national teams competing on six boards. China is the virtual host for the event.
FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2021 Details
FIDE’s fresh attempt with the online chess tournament – owing to the Covid-19 lock-down situation – witnessed a tremendous response from chess fans as well as the general public with more than 65,000 concurrent viewers across the globe on YouTube who watched the Olympiad live.
The remarkable event comprised over 163 national teams from all six continents and 1,500 players. This year, the event is predicted to surpass its initial proportions with more global participation and viewership.
Similar to the previous edition, this year will also see six players in each team with mandatory participation of at least one U-20 player. Also, every team is required to have a minimum of two female players, one U-20 female player, and two junior players. The roster is complete with six reserve players and a team captain.
The tournament has two stages. In the Divisions stage, each team is categorized as per their results at the previous Online Olympiad as well as the OTB Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018 and seeded into Round-Robin pools.
The winners from every division will be selected to the next advanced level. The final Top Division will have the finest chess teams in the world comprising 25 top players and 15 qualified teams.
The second stage – the Play-off - follows with a knock-out where the top qualifiers will confront each other. Last year's winners were India and Russia who shared the victory.
The first day of the event had the first three rounds followed by rounds 4-7 on the second day and 8-11 on the third day. The first three teams from each pool along with the fourth qualifier advance to Division Three.
Chess Olympiad has its launch dating back to 1924 and is considered one of the most elite events in the sport. It was the first-ever in history that an Olympiad was held on a virtual platform as FIDE conducted it online in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 global crisis. The event went “live” on prominent social media platforms like YouTube with an impressive viewership that surpassed expectations.
Online Chess Olympiad: the Indian defense
In 2020, Vidit Gujrati had led the Indian Team to gold at the first-ever online chess Olympiad, sharing the crown with the Russian team. The online Olympiad 2020, understandably in its maiden attempt, faced quite a few rough tides with internet outages and team appeals hindering the schedules. In the quarter-finals between Armenia and India, the former raised a protest regarding internet connection that delayed the second round of matches. Later the Armenian team withdrew from the game as their appeal was rejected.
Similarly, in the finals with Russia, the Indian team also faced the irregularities of net connection and went for appeal on grounds of server problems.
Though marred by the dysfunctionalities of online games with disrupted net connections, the online Olympiad brought India back to the forefront of world chess. The social media live streaming during the finals is said to have hit a viewership that crossed the 33,000 capacity of Wankhede cricket stadium, Mumbai.
This year, Viswanathan Anand has taken charge of the Indian team that comprises himself as well as Vidit Gujrathi, Nihal Sarin, R. Praggnanandhaa, P. Harikrishna, K. Humpy, R. Vaishali, D Harika, B. Savitha, and Bhakti Kulkarni. GM Shri Abhijit Kunte serves as the non-playing vice-captain.
Conclusion
The 2021 edition of the Online Olympiad is sponsored by the state authorities of Shenzhen, in China. That includes Shenzhen Longgang District Culture and Sports Bureau, the Pengcheng Chess Club, and the Chess Academy of Shenzhen, as well as the Shenzhen MSU-BIT University.
The Russian online wholesale store Simaland, the sponsor of the Candidates tournament 2020-’21, has also partnered with the event.
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