Oman chess players set for busy month

MUSCAT, Oct 3 -

Oman’s chess players in different categories are set for busy month of October as three top chess events will be organised through online approved application. The Arab Singles Chess Championship, The World School Chess Championship and Asian Chess Championships are the main three events which are scheduled to take place in the current month.

Basheer al Qudaimi, head coach of the national chess team, is making efforts for the technical preparation of the players for these significant participations. The training is done through Zoom and Lichess platforms due to the current pandemic situation and to adapt the players with the new mode of the online tournaments.

During the non-action sporting period in the Sultanate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oman Chess Committee (OCC) had organised series of e-tournaments through Zoom and Lichess platforms. Moreover, Oman’s players took part in different international and regional chess events in the past few months besides regular online training sessions under Al Qudaimi.

The national chess players are now well versed with the rules and regulations of the online tournaments and have prepared well for these kind of events. This will enable them to register top results in the online championships.

The technical staff of the national chess team have selected the top 27 players for the above mentioned tournaments to represent the Sultanate team. The selection criteria depended on the latest results of the online domestic and regional online events during the past few months. Eleven players are selected for the junior team (junior ladies team) for the World School Chess Championship including: Rawan al Balushi, Ghaidaa al Saidi, Zeina al Hinai, Maryam al Balushi and Manar al Dhuli while the boys junior team probables included Abdulrahman al Zadjali, Anas al Daroushi, Hamood al Busaidi, Mohammed al Rashdi, Ahmed al Rahbi and Suhaib al Rubaie.

The Sultanate team at the Asian Chess Championships will be represented by Salim al Amri, Ameen al Ansi, Mohammed al Amr, Hamood al Busaidi and Abdulrahman al Zadjali while the ladies team will include Anaa al Essaei, Wafia al Ghafri, Afraa al Balushi, Kamila al Ghafri and Rawan al Balushi.

In August, national team player Salim al Amri had claimed the senior title in the National Singles Online Chess Championship after he had earned 6.5 points as overall credit while Ameen al Ansi had claimed the runner-up position with six points.

Anaa al Essai was the junior champion of the National Singles online Chess championship, while Afra al Balushi was positioned in second place with six points and Alanood al Ghafri came in third place.