National chess players gear up for Asian event

As part of the Sultanate hosting the Asian Amateur Championship which is scheduled to take place in Muscat during April 2020, Oman Chess Committee (OCC) are in a busy season as many tournaments and events will be held in the coming days. After completion of the seventh national chess team tournament recently where Abdullah al Mashani was crowned as champions, Al Zubair International classic chess tournament for junior category began on Monday and will finish on Saturday. As many as 60 players representing six countries are taking part in this top chess event including: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, India, Pakistan and the hosts Sultanate of Oman. Many players with top ranking will participate in the open tournament and it featured The Indian player Armstrong Eariberi which has ranking of 1,551 points, Qatar’s player Arfan Mohammed with 1,255 and Oman’s junior player Hamood al Busaidi with 1,453 points. OCC aims to achieve many targets from this open junior tournament. Providing the right platform for the Sultanate’s players to compete among the international and regional players with high ranking is one of the main objectives. Also, OCC is working very hard to raise the technical performance of the domestic players especially in junior category through different regional and international tournaments. Besides that, Oman’s players competing in such high class chess tournaments will help them gain more points in the ranking and adapt more in playing at the international level. The International junior tournament is part of OCC’s partnership with Al Zubair corporation. The tournament is open for the players up to 16 years old. The technical committee approved the international rules and regulations of classic chess which will be implemented during all the matches. Each game will comprise nine rounds as per Swiss system and 60 mins plus to 30 second is the period for each shift. The first winners will receive cash prizes. The seventh edition of national chess team tournament saw the participation of many junior players. The seven days of domestic event recorded an impressive show by junior national team players who took part in the vent including Hamood al Easari and Anas al Darwashi who were very close to register wins among the former and existing national team players. The technical staff of the national chess team arranged a detailed technical programme for the team players to prepare well for the upcoming tournaments including the main event of the Asian Amateur Championship.