Chess.com hosts Online Olympiad

The nations tournament by FIDE will be hosted by Chess.com. 160 teams – each with four adults and two juniors, half male, half female – have registered. A dedicated website is being prepared. Each match consists of two rounds played with changing colours. Each player gets 15 minutes per game plus 5 seconds per move. The nations are group by strength and recent results into five divisions. The competition starts on Wednesday, 22 July, from the lowest division with the best teams promoting to the higher division. The top teams enter on 19 August. The final knockout stages will be played from 27 to 30 August. Fair play shall be monitored by a panel consisting of the chief arbiter, members of the FIDE Fair Play Commission, Chess.com’s anti-cheating experts, statisticians and grandmasters. The Fair Play Panel can pass on extreme and evident cases to the FIDE Ethics Commission which may ban cheaters for up to 15 years.