ESWATINI IN CHESS ‘WORLD CUP’

MBABANE – The incredible online chess event got underway last Saturday.

According to information sourced from Chess.com, the event is open to all chess federations from all over the world. “Federations are invited to send their best players and top juniors to compete in rapid chess matches for gold medals,’’ reads part of the statement. The event which kicked off on Saturday runs on Chess.com’s server and brings together the best players in the world. It is further highlighted on the statement that the global event featured 163 national teams and over 1 500 players from all six continents. This year, the Online Olympiad is expected to reach same epic proportions, as more than 150 countries are likely to participate. The chess event is hosted by China virtually and being the host nation, China is having two teams participating. China will bank they hopes on world number three Ding Liren and three-time women’s world champion Ju Wenjun.

According to Eswatini Chess Federation (ECF) Secretary General (SG) Qiniso Matsebula, they have players who will participate in the global chess event.  “We will be participating in the world Chess Olympiad. The games will be played online and we will use the Zoom platform to play the games,’’ the SG said.  The ECF will be banking their hopes on the country’s chess number one player, Candidate Master (CM) Sikhanyiso Percival Sihlongonyane to perform best in the event. This is the second year in running for ECF to participate in the Online Chess Olympiad world event.

disastrous

“We had a disastrous outing in the first edition, but this year we seem much prepared and ready,” he said. The SG went on to say that their challenge was the connectivity as they were not used to online platforms. “We had since rectified our challenge and we are looking forward to a better performance than last year,’’ he said. He promised that as EFC, they would make the country proud this time around. This year’s edition will be supported and sponsored by Shenzhen Longgang District Culture and Sports Bureau, the Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, Shenzhen Chess Club and Shenzhen Pengcheng Chess Club.

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