Chennai Challenge Awaits Nepal

The Chess Olympiad is a event of a lifetime with the participation of top players from almost all the countries of the world come at a particular place to play Chess!. This time this festival is being held in India. 

You can catch every moment of 2022 Chess Olympiad on Chess.com!.

Nepal finished 9th on Rating Group D(Open Section ) and was not able to get in Top 10 Rating Group D of Women's Section in the 43rd Olympiad.

The highlight was of course the first round victory over GM Aman Hambleton by Rijendra Raj Bhandari and the form he was in the whole tournament which earned him FM title.

The 44th Chess Olympiad 

Being held in India, Nepalese Players will have some benefit in travelling due to open border and the relationship between Nepal and India.

Let's look at the Nepalese team(Open) and the players' qualification journey.

1) CM Milan Lama

Obtaining the title of Candidate Master in 2017 and now qualifying at the Olympiad with first place with 5/7 points has been the highlight of his career with the victory in the Sahakari Cup. Given the effort and progress made by him there is more to expect from him.

Let's look at the crucial game of Round 6 against FM Rupesh Jaiswal.

2) FM Kshitiz Bhandari 

Having played the Olympiad Previously(2016) and securing CM Title in 2016 and FM title in 2020, along with various victories in team events has been the highlight of his career and which will benefit the team and he will be looking forward to help the team with his experience and play.  

3) FM Rupesh Jaiswal

Having obtained the CM title in 2012 and FM title In 2015, FM Rupesh Jaiswal has participated in 2012, 2018 Chess Olympiad  and 2020 online Olympiad. He qualified this time by winning a crucial 7th round against experienced Surbir Lama.

Two Qualification Spots were already been Given to Current National Champion Purushottam Chaulagain who works as an Assistant Manager in Standard Chartered Bank and Highest Rated Player of Nepal CM Bibek Thing.

With WFM Sujana Lohani already qualifying to the team by Being the Current Women's Champion and the highest rated Female Player, there were 4 spots to be filled and the top 4 players in the Selection qualified for the Olympiad.

1) Kritisara Adhikari

Playing her first Chess Olympiad Selection, Kritisara managed to win it and qualify with 5.5/7 points. A student of Former National Champion Bhupendra Niraula, She managed to recover well from her loss of Round 2 (where she could have drawn the game) with 4 wins out of last 5 rounds. 

3) Binita Kapali

After missing the previous selection tournament due to being inactive, Binita Kapali has been active in many tournaments as a Chess Player as well as working as an Arbiter. She managed to score 4 wins and a win on forfeit which helped her to claim the third qualification spot.

All games of  Olympiad Selection.

Open