SPORTS REPORTER
Poor preparation is the main reason that Botswana has been knocked out in the first round of the ongoing 2021 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad, the Secretary General of Botswana Chess Federation (BCF), Mokwaledi Tingwane, has told Business Weekly & Review Sports.
The 2021 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad is a worldwide online event where hundreds of participants of more than 100 different national teams are competing to be crowned champions.
The event, which began on August 20 and is scheduled to end on September 15, is taking place on Chess.com server. For the local team to make it to the next round, they had to finish in the top three of their group which had 10 teams.
“But the team failed to meet our expectations,” said Tingwane. “We finished fifth in our group and did not proceed to the next group.”
Tingwane blames the team’s dismal performance on failure to convene the players, who were scattered all over the country, in one place for preparations. “Some were abroad in the USA and South Africa,” he said.
“We needed accommodation and all the necessary support to have the players in one place. The other teams that went to the next round had all the relevant support. Asking players to use the Internet is not ideal.”
Besides, the team did not have a proper training camp prior to the competition because the invitation came late, according to Tingwane. “When players are not together, training them becomes a problem,” he said.
He said a total of P15 750 was spent on the competition at which Botswana had a 12-strong team.
