FIDE Online Olympiad 22 July to 30 August 2020

[Roger de Coverly]

I'm not sure how keen I would be to be involved if I was a commercial chess site, given the probability of fair play controversy.

It could avoid being directly associated with controversies by deferring decisions to the FIDE arbiter team. Also it could insist on special handles used only for the event, thus Mickey could be ENG2020no1 for the duration of the Olympiad.

[John Swain]

FIDE seems not to have announced the "Hosting Internet Platform" yet.

I'm not sure how keen I would be to be involved if I was a commercial chess site, given the probability of fair play controversy.

The sponsor for this event, FIDE has announced today, is Gazprom and the platform is Chess.com where there will be commentary in at least six different languages from 25 July until 30 August. See: https://www.fide.com/news/643

[Mick Norris]

The "base" division has concluded report

Division 4 starts on Friday (I had to look up ESWATINI )

[Simon Rogers]

What Division are New Zealand in?

[John Swain]

What Division are New Zealand in?

The New Zealand team is in Division 3. See:

https://olymp-results.fide.com/team

[Simon Rogers]

What Division are New Zealand in?

The New Zealand team is in Division 3. See:

https://olymp-results.fide.com/team

Thanks John.
Has Division 3 started yet?
Just wandering how the forner Lancashire player, Ben Hague is doing on the top board.

[David Sedgwick]

Thanks John.
Has Division 3 started yet?
Just wandering how the forner Lancashire player, Ben Hague is doing on the top board.

With some variation towards the end, the Divisions start a week apart, with each Division lasting three days.

Division 4: Friday 31st July to Sunday 2nd August

Division 3: Friday 7th August to Sunday 9th August

Division 2: Friday 14th August to Sunday 16th August

[Mick Norris]

Presumably that's to check the results for cheating before moving on to the next stage

Division 4 summary report

Division 3 includes Ireland, Scotland, Wales & New Zealand

[David Sedgwick]

With some variation towards the end, the Divisions start a week apart, with each Division lasting three days.

Division 4: Friday 31st July to Sunday 2nd August

Division 3: Friday 7th August to Sunday 9th August

Division 2: Friday 14th August to Sunday 16th August

Presumably that's to check the results for cheating before moving on to the next stage

That is an important reason and it is mentioned in the Division 4 Report to which you linked.

However, there are other reasons:

1, The teams in each Division have to be allocated to Pools of approximately equal strength, but with the teams in each Pool being in similar time Zones. This cannot be done until the qualifiers from the Division below are known.

2. A Technical Meeting and a trial match are held on the Thursday before each Division take place.

3. It is apparent to me that on the playing days the arbiting team are working very hard indeed. They would not be able to keep that up for 19 playing days unless the days were reasonably well spaced. You could of course deal with that by appointing more arbiters, with not everyone working each day.

[David Sedgwick]

The Pools for Division 3 have been announced. Go to http://chess-results.com/tnr531770.aspx ... =0&flag=30 and click on the other relevant links.

It means an early start for Ireland and a late finish for New Zealand. Both teams are in Pool A.

[Chris Rice]

FIDE have identified 4 cases of breaches of Fair Play Regulations. "These cases affect four players from Mali (Base Division, Pool B), Brunei Darussalam (Division 4, pool A), Hong Kong (Division 4, pool A), and Nicaragua (Division 4, pool E)." Results

[Mick Norris]

Mali were 8th in Base div B

Brunei were 2nd in Base div A, then 7th in div 4A

Hong Kong won div 4A and are in div 3A

Nicaragua won div 4E and are in div 3E

[NickFaulks]

Hong Kong won div 4A and are in div 3A

I've taken a look at the Hong Kong girl who got chucked out. Despite her 1575 Rapid rating she is a genuinely strong player ( plus score last year in Sitges against a 2050+ field ) and might have been expected to devastate her group without assistance. Very sad.

[Ian Thompson]

I've taken a look at the Hong Kong girl who got chucked out. Despite her 1575 Rapid rating she is a genuinely strong player ( plus score last year in Sitges against a 2050+ field ) and might have been expected to devastate her group without assistance. Very sad.

Very sad that she cheated when she would probably have won the games anyway, or very sad that she's been convicted of cheating when that's doubtful?

[NickFaulks]

Yes.