Blitz chess to start season
THE 2024 chess season will begin with the Vodafone Fiji National Blitz Chess Championship at The University of the South Pacific Campus in Suva on Saturday.
Provisional FIDE Master (FM) Rudr Ravi Prasad and Provisional Women’s Candidate Master (WCM) Cydel Terubea will be defending their National Blitz titles.
A range of ex-national reps will be after the title and they include Manoj Kumar, Taione Sikivou, Ronald Terubea, Gloria Sukhu, Tanvi Radha Prasad, Ashwin Singh, Prashant Sarup, Prashil Prakash, and Yash Krishen Maharaj who are impactful players of the format.
Many players are expected in the event as prizes will be up for grabs in the Open, Women, Primary School, and Secondary School divisions.
Special awards will also be available for Best Upset, and Best Beginner for any new player who competes in his or her maiden Fiji Chess Federation tournament to achieve a decent score.
“The tournament will be contested across 12 rounds at 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move,” states general secretary Goru Arvind.
“Blitz is a deadly format of chess that puts to test the overall agility of players, forcing them to make quickfire decisions that might be unusual for their style.
“2024 is a massive year for chess across the world since we have a World Chess Olympiad planned for September. We have appointed an experienced selection panel that will assess all potential national reps for the Olympiad based on characteristics like FIDE rating, style of play, adaptability with the potential team, and overall discipline.”
The selection panel intends to announce a 13-member squad for Team Fiji by mid-February.
The team will include five open players, five female players, two team captains, and a head of delegation.