FIDE Online Olympiad: Base Division's Results
On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday the games of the FIDE Online Olympiad's Base Division were played. Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, Pakistan, Oman, Lebanon, Qatar, Bahrain, Liberia, Cyprus, Aruba, Haiti, and Mauritania have qualified for Division 4.
The games of the FIDE Online Olympiad can be found here as part of our live events platform. On playing days, expert commentary is provided on Chess.com/TV starting from midnight Pacific / 9:00 a.m. Central Europe.
The Online Olympiad began on Saturday with the Base Division, which consists of 30 of the lowest-ranked teams based on the final standings of the Gaprindashvili Cup at the 2018 Batumi Chess Olympiad. In three pools of 10 teams, three rounds per day were played.
The teams in Pool A had the honor of starting this long event (it runs until August 30!) on Saturday at 9 a.m. Central European Time (midnight Pacific). They played their three rounds before Pool B did, followed by Pool C.
The live coverage of day three.
Pool A
Myanmar won all its matches in Pool A by at least 4-2 or more. Brunei Darussalam lost to only Myanmar and won all other matches to clinch second place, while Pakistan and Oman tied for third place with 13/18.
Somalia finished in last place because its players sadly couldn't play their last five matches due to a nation-wide internet shutdown. According to a press release of the internet company, an early assessment suggested that "a submarine cable sustained a shunt fault after windy condition caused Somali shores of the Indian Ocean to become very rough and turbulent." Others linked it to the removal of Prime Minister Hassan Ali from office.
⚠️Confirmed: Internet shutdown across much of #Somalia as parliament votes to remove Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire over lack of democratic elections; real-time metrics show connectivity below ~30% of ordinary levels with high impact to #Mogadishu
— NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) July 26, 2020
📰 https://t.co/Dqtp0RXkSB pic.twitter.com/QiV145Ib7D
Pool B
Lebanon was clearly the best team in Pool B and won all its matches with 4.5-1.5 or bigger scores. Qatar and Bahrain ended in clear second and third places, but the fourth team, Liberia, stayed ahead of Burundi on only board points.
Lebanon's Samer Salman won a nice miniature against The Gambia's Matthew Aziz:
Pool C
Cyprus dominated Pool C. As the winner there, the Cypriots also scored nine victories. Aruba and Haiti ended in second and third places while Mauritania edged out Libya and Saint Lucia on tiebreak.
Below are the final standings of all three pools:
In Division 4 (Friday, July 31-Sunday, August 2), the 12 qualified teams from the Base Division will be joined by 38 seeded teams ranked higher than the teams in the Base Division in the 2018 Gaprindashvili Cup. There will be five pools this time, and the top three teams from each pool will qualify for Division 3.
The FIDE Online Olympiad is a major online chess event for national teams that runs July 25-August 30 on the Chess.com server. More than 1,500 participants and 163 teams from all over the world are playing.
Each team consists of six players, including at least two women, at least one player who is 20 or younger, and at least one girl who is 20 or younger. The time control for all matches is 15 minutes for the game and five seconds increment per move, starting from move one.
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