Doha: The Qatari chess team won the silver medal in E Category at the 45th World Chess Olympiad, hosted by Budapest, Hungary, with the participation of 190 countries.
The Qatari team included five players: Hussein Aziz, Irfan Mohammed, Mohammed Al Qassabi, Hamad Al Kuwari, and Turki Al Kuwari.
Hamad Al Kuwari won the title of International Candidate CM.
The tournament witnessed the division of the participating teams into five categories: A, B, C, D, and E, where India won the men’s championship race one round before the end of the tournament and achieved its first historic title in the Olympiad, after defeating America 2.5 points to 1.5 points, while China came in second place.
Mohammed Al Mudhahka, President of Qatar Chess Association (QCA), participated in the General Assembly meetings on the sidelines of the Olympics, in addition to the presence of a number of national administrative cadres in the event, including Jo Shin – QCA Treasurer, and Hamad Al-Tamimi, Advisor to the Competitions Committee at QCA and Executive Director of the Association.
International referee Hussein Al Haddad and national referee Sarah Al Mohannadi also participated in managing the Olympic competitions.
The QCA President expressed his great happiness with the results of the Qatari team in the Olympics, praising the efforts of all players in achieving this achievement that is added to the record of Qatari chess.
Al Mudhahka said in a statement that obtaining the silver medal will double the record of the Qatari team players in the classification list of the International Federation for the game, stressing the continuation of the Qatari Federation’s efforts within the framework of raising the level of all players of the national teams and qualifying them for the upcoming events.
The QCA president indicated at the end of his statement that the Qatari teams are preparing to participate in the Arab Championship for age groups, which will be hosted by Tunisia at the end of next October.