Namibia to participate in Chess Olympiad in Russia

Namibia to participate in Chess Olympiad in Russia
Submitted by newsdesk on Thu, 09/16/2010 – 10:00

A team of five players will represent Namibia at the 39th Chess Olympiad scheduled to be held in Khaty-Mansiysk, Russia from 20 September to 4 October.

Max Nitzborn, President of the Namibia Chess Federation (NCF) said that it was the first time that a team was leaving the country to compete with official national colours.

“We registered chess for the first time as a sport in 2005 and today for the first time we receive national colours for international participation,” Nitzborn said, speaking at the National Sports Commission.

The team was selected at the National Chess Championship held earlier this year in April in Windhoek.

“All the top chess players were there and then we selected the top five players from that event,” Nitzborn said.

The team consists of Leonhard Meuller, Max Nitzborn (team captain), Otto Nakapunda, Charles Eichab and Simon Shidolo as the reserve.

“Simon and I are going to compete for the first time and the other three guys have participated in the Olympiad before,” Nitzborn said.

“Our main aim going to the competition is to get medals, hopefully we will be able to do that.”

The team will travel without a team manager due to financial constraints.

“Ideally we would like to travel with a manager, but this year we are unable to do that,” he added.

One of the participants going to Russia, Charles Eichab was very confident about the team’s chances.

“We have a very good team now with a mix that includes up and coming players,” Eichab said.

“We have the capacity to top the category we are in which has between 30 to 40 countries competing. Last time we missed out on the category gold medal by just one point in Dresden,” Eichab continued.

Namibia is ranked 102 out of 160 nations on the World Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings and are eighth on the AFrican continent. They are behind Egypt (48), Algeria (82), South Africa (83), Zimbabwe (84), Tunisia (86), Angola (94), and Uganda (101). Namibia will be playing in the Category 5/E .

This will be the eighth time that Namibia has participated in the Olympiad. Meuller won two silver medals at the 1998 Olympiad in Moscow and the 1998 one in Elista.

At the last three Olympiads, the Open title has been won by Ukraine (2004), and Armenia in 2006 and 2008.

Source: http://www.namibiasport.com.na