Chess Olympiad: Dominica records 1st victory in Round 4

The Dominica Open Team recorded its 1st match victory at the 45th Chess Olympiad. The team scored 2.5 points out of 4 in Round 4 on September 14, scoring a win over Equatorial Guinea.

The Women's team also made some progress in Round 4. Though they went down 3.5 -0.5 against Cote D'Ivoire, Desalee Daniel managed to achieve a draw on board 3.

The game continued on Sunday, September, with Round 5, where Dominica's Open team faced Tunisia, while the Women will come up against the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Round five also yielded fruitful results, with a massive victory for the women's team, which won 4-0 in the match-up against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Dominica Chess Federation lauded the team and noted that it was an amazing victory and a spectacular performance after a very difficult start. "This morale boost will help the women today as they face Mauritius," it added.

Meanwhile, in the Open category, the open team faced Tunisia, a team comprised of only master players (all with titles), and lost 4-0.

Notably, the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad kicked off last Tuesday in Budapest, Hungary. With a record-breaking 197 teams in the Open section and 184 in the Women's competition, this is set to be one of the biggest and most thrilling events in chess history.

According to the information, the Dominican players, based on board orders 1 to 4, plus reserve players, are as follows: for the Open Tournament: Jones Murphy, Robert Bridet, Nigel Francis, Larry Thomas, and Lyndon Auguste.

For the Women's Tournament: Ayani Casimir, Liudmila Domennova, Zahidu Henry, Desalee Daniel, and Dorothy Jno Baptiste. Players were chosen based on being the top performers in the National tournaments held earlier this year.

The DCF is especially delighted to be able to field a women's team this year, and this achievement is in alignment with one of FIDE's key initiatives: increasing the number of female players in the sport of chess.