Hey, everyone! How’s it going?
The 1st FIDE Online Chess Olympiad for people with disabilities is over. This event brought us a lot of positive things worth mentioning.
A few days ago I wrote a quick update about this tournament.
Well, today I will share with you and break down all the details about it.
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When it comes to representing your country in a sporting event, it is always a great pride we take. The truth is I am very proud to be there giving my best. This time, the playing environment has changed considerably, but this is still one of the most rewarding experiences I have had as a member of the national team in my chess career.
In December of last year, the International Chess Federation FIDE carried out in an "experimental way” The First Cup for People with Disabilities in Ankara-Turkey. This first approach set the basis for planning the 1st Chess Paralympics, which were scheduled for mid-July this year in Khanty-Mansi Russia. However, due to the impact that the pandemic has had worldwide, this event was cancelled. Many may be thinking that the story ends here, but when you face a complicated situation, new alternatives always stand out. Thanks to the adaptability that chess has in computer environments it is possible to carry out games between players from all over the world with only a few clicks. The boom of game platforms in quarantine time has aroused the interest of large investors who are betting on this new "paradigm" of competition. By virtue of the above mentioned, FIDE has decided to go ahead with the event, this time in an online fashion.
Organizing a championship of this nature has different aspects we need to consider.
First of all, it is important to say that it is a great step for the development of sport as this new modality tries to include the greatest number of participants. Unlike “face-to-face events” in which we have to keep in mind the costs of transportation, food, accommodation, etc, with this type of online event, it is possible to bring together more players from different countries at a more affordable price. Of course, since this is the first Olympic chess tournament on the net, the ups and downs are shining on average. The massive participation is possibly the most positive aspect, although the technical issues are a bit out of tune. I mean, of course, to the bad Internet connectivity and factors related to the electric power, topics of which I'll talk about later.
Introducing the Members of the Team
Players
Víctor Abiad
Edgar Rivas
Giuseppe Abatantuano was supported by President of the Venezuelan Chess Federation Fidel Gonzalez
Harlem Otero
Juan Polanco
Vanessa Descarrega
Luis Aníbal Rodríguez
Bárbara Palacios
From left to right Geber Diaz International Arbiter and Jose Luis Gonzalez Team Captain
Performance of the Venezuelan Team in the Internet Chess Paralympics
As I mentioned before, "not everything is a bed of roses". Venezuela is well-known for having frequent failures in the electric supply and a very limited access to the Internet. Just for this, the participation of the team was already "in check". It is fairly logical: if you don’t have the appropriate tools to perform your game effectively, then you’ve got a horrible handicap.
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Training sessions and technical preparation for the Paralympics
However, the Venezuelan Chess Federation contacted the members of the national team before the date of the event in order to carry out the technical tests related to the handling of the software to use in the competition. As for the platforms, Tornelo.com was used as tournament server and play environment, and Zoom was used for video call communication. During these days of training and preparation, we realized that we could face some issues during the competition. For instance, some of the players had Internet cuts, intermittent connection, and some problems with the electrical service. The Venezuelan team is characterized by always working under pressure in each of the competitions in which it participates. It's not easy to feel really prepared when you're worried that something could go wrong at any time. Nevertheless, despite all the limitations, we decided to go ahead because the determination of the team to compete and represent the country was stronger than any "technical problem".
The competition was coming up and the team was fine-tuning details. Several members of the team made the necessary arrangements with the support of the National Chess Federation to have access to a place with better connectivity. For instance, we were able to contact the Hotel Eurobuilding in Falcon State, which kindly opened its doors to us. In this way, two of the players, namely, Victor Abiad and Juan Polanco, ensured a decent Internet connection. Thanks to this, I can tell you we had the best conditions compared to the other colleagues who had a little more difficulty.
The day of the first round arrived and it was our turn to face the Indian team, a kind of "tricky" team because, even though they have a low overall rating, they are quite fighters. In face-to-face tournaments, the national team has had favorable results against the Indian team, and in this online tournament we were also better ranked compared to them, so, "in theory", we were the favorites in that match and we were expected to win, but, you know, in chess you have to show things on the board.
That day I didn’t play (I was not part of the first round lineup) but I was a spectator and were watching my teammates play their games. Vanessa Descarrega joined late to her game because of power issues and I noticed how she was playing quickly to accumulate a few minutes on her clock (thanks to the increment) until she finally reached an equal and fairly calm position. However, the lack of time would take its toll later on.
I was feeling positive because, in my opinion, the games were going quite well for our team, when suddenly something awful happened.
It started when our first-board player, Harlen Otero, a super experienced player of very high level who could have had the possibility of facing the best players of this league, had achieved a winning position in his game. I was following him from the beginning and I was confidently saying to myself "he is winning", but all of the sudden, when I realized that his clock was still running but it was not his turn to play, I feared the worst. Indeed, we learned that he experienced a power outage which prevented him from finishing the game and with this India scored its first point. Rivas signed the first victory for Venezuela, but at the same time Vanessa lost control in a totally equal position due to the zeitnot (short time on the clock) she carried from the beginning. The score was 2-1 in favor of the Asian team at that moment. Meanwhile, Guisseppe Abatantuano was outplaying his opponent, but due to the pressure of the score against us, he erratically forced the game and ended up losing as well. Venezuela started the Paralympics with the left foot.
It was a strong blow for the team because Otero had to say goodbye to the championship since he did not have the ideal conditions to play the rest of the matches. However, he was always present at the team meetings giving us encouragement and cheering.
Final position of Harlen's game. Black loses on disconnect.
Venezuela vs Mali – Round 2
Next day I was among the players of the team. This time we faced the Mali team. Obviously, we were not the only ones with difficulties. The African country was also in a similar situation as they did not have a stable Internet connection. The match started and a few minutes after the arbiter stopped the games because our opponents were not on the videocall. I supposed that happened due to some technical inconvenience. A few minutes passed and we were awarded the victory, but there was a drawback: the result was officially reported as forfait, which is equivalent to say that the opponents did not show up to the game. I find this very contradictory (and unfair?) because in fact all of the Mali team players did attend to the match. In fact, every game was already ongoing, with moves on the board by both teams. It is worth mentioning that, despite having won the match, this result does not add up to any playoff points because it was forfait. In my opinion, this should set a precedent to be taken into account by the organization of the event for future occasions.
Venezuela vs Colombia– Round 3
The chess competition continued and in round three we had to play against our neighbors, the Colombians, who having a pretty solid team would not make things easier for us. I joined the Zoom room quite early. I realized that besides myself only my teammate Luis Anibal Rodriguez was online, so I started to worry about the rest of the team that wasn’t there with the round about to start. The clocks were started and I had to focus on my game, but with a little noise in my mind because I did not know if my other teammates were playing, too. In my game, I had the black pieces and I remember that many tactical complications came up, but I was able to maintain control and take the win. Then, I immediately left the room and looked over the other games. I can remember that although my teammate Rivas got a clear advantage, he lost in the treacherous time constraints. He told us that he could not make it to the start time for the reasons we already know. To top it all off, our chess player, Bárbara Palacios, lost by disconnection, which left us a bitter 3-1 against the Colombian team.
In the world of sport, defeats are painful and give you a rather strong psychological blow, and especially in the world of chess, where psychology is important. Between the rounds we had several meetings with the captain José Luis González who guided us and conveyed words of encouragement that helped us to keep fighting on the board.
Turkey vs Venezuela – Round 4
Venezuela vs Bangladesh – Round 5
Final position of Abiad’s game - White loses on disconnect
Brazil vs Venezuela – Round 6
The next day, during the 6th round against Brazil, my internet failed again, right after I got a winning position (yes, once again). However, I quickly reacted and turned on the mobile internet and was able to reconnect in time. After a few moves and under a lot of pressure, I saved half a point, equalizing the match at 2-2. For her part, Barbara, following the instructions, ensured a draw by perpetual check in a game that if she had better playing conditions, she would easily win, and with that, the match would be in our favor. But the draw was not such a bad result and the decision to finish the game as soon as possible was right.
Venezuela vs Canadá – Round 7
To conclude, in the final round we faced the strong Canadian team. This was a very important game because if we wanted to get a good place in the final standing, we had to win. And we did! We were able to beat the Canadians 3.5 - 0.5. This was a result that brought us a lot of excitement because, like I said, it moved us up in the final standings. These results are detailed below.
Final standing and important considerations
Rseults
Venezuela took 12th place in the great event of the "1st Online Chess Paralympics for People with Disabilities", in which more than 60 countries participated. It is important to point out that countries like Russia, Poland and the Philippines were present with more than one team, which actually takes us to the 8th position as a nation. In addition, Venezuela consolidated and ratified its status as number 1 in the Americas. Our players showed a high level in their games, which allowed them to take a leading position over powerful countries such as the United States, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, among others.
It is quite difficult to try to express all the details and experiences you get from participating in an event like this. The truth is that the work done by our players is heroic and deserves attention because despite all the limitations this team has been able to come forward on more than one occasion doing "small" feats.
I hope that the information can be disseminated as much as possible and that the hard work of the Venezuelan team can be made known.
Special thanks to Engineer Henrry Martínez of "Encuentro Deportivo" from 93.5 FM Estado Monagas - Design of the printers
For more details you can visit the following links where you can find the games played and the official results:
Tornelo events Olympiad for people with disabilities
FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities
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Best wishes for Venezuela. I hope Your future is bright.
Thank you so much, it's good to know that the message is going over the world. I really appreciate your good vibes
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