The 2021 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad kicks off tomorrow, August 20, with Division 4 and will last until September 15.
155 registered teams are ranked according to their Federation Performance Ranking (FPR) based on their results in the open and women's section of the 2018 FIDE Olympiad in Batumi and the 2020 FIDE Online Olympiad. Based on their rankings, teams are divided into four divisions, from Division 4 to Top Division.
Like the regular, biannual event, the Online Olympiad is a competition for teams representing their national chess federations. All federations affiliated to FIDE have the right to participate. However, in the online version, each team consists of 6 players and must include at least two women, one player U20 and one female U20.
60 teams, broken up into 5 pools of 12, will battle in Division 4. Each pool will play a round-robin of eleven rounds, with the top three teams from each pool (15 total) qualifying for Division 3.
This will be followed by Division 3 (50 teams), Division 2 (50 teams), and finally Division 1 (40 teams), the winners of which will join the seeded teams in the play-off stage.
The second edition of the Online Olympiad is supported and sponsored by the Shenzhen authorities, including the Shenzhen Longgang District Culture and Sports Bureau, the Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, Shenzhen Chess Academy, Shenzhen Pengcheng Chess Club. Simaland, the Russian wholesale online store and proud sponsor of the Candidates tournament 2020-21, is also a partner for the Online Olympiad 2021.
Find more about the teams and their players here.
Check out the crosstable of Division 4, team line-ups, pairings and results here.
About the tournament:
Scheduled to take place from August 20th to September 15th, the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad is a national teams event in which all federations affiliated with FIDE have the right to participate. Team's consist of six players with a minimum of three female players and two junior players.
Played online on Chess.com, the event features two main stages: the "Divisions stage", and the Play-offs stage. All games are played with a 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move time control. The full schedule can be consulted here.
Organisers:
International Chess Federation (FIDE)
Chess.com as the hosting platform
Partners supporting the 2021 FIDE Online Olympiad:
Shenzhen Longgang District Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau
Shenzhen Chess Academy
Shenzhen Pengcheng Chess Club
Shenzhen Longgang District People's Government
Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports
