FIDE has just announced its first ever FIDE Online Olympiad 2020 to be held between 22nd July and 30th August 2020 in its effort to continue promoting chess via online platform in view of the current restriction movements adopted by many countries around the world. The Online Olympiad is a national teams event in which all federations affiliated to FIDE are invited to play and have the right to participate.

The event will use a different method of team play where each affiliate must field a team consisting of six players, in a mixed format with a minimum of three female players and two junior players. To be more specific, each team must include a) at least 1 player U-20 (born in 2000 or later); at least 2 women; and at least 1 girl U-20 (born in 2000 or later). Each team can have a maximum of six reserves, plus a team captain.

The time control for this event will be 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move. and the entire championship will be divided into two main stages: the “Divisions stage”, and the Play-offs stage, from Round of 16 to the final.

FIDE has not yet appoint the platform for the Online Olympiad as it is still evaluating the various offerings currently available in the market.

For more news on the event, please visit FIDE website or click HERE

For more information on the event’s regulation, please click HERE

Those interested to represent Malaysia in this inaugural International FIDE Online Olympiad event, please fill in the REGISTRATION FORM (click HERE) and submit it to mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org and mcfselection@malaysiachess.org before 10th July 2020. The final Malaysian squad will be named on 12th July 2020 as the final submission to FIDE must be completed by 13th July 2020.