Bangladesh went down in their opening game of the 39th World Chess Olympiad when they lost to eighth-seeded Bulgaria 3.5-0.5 at Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia yesterday.
Only FM Abu Sufian Shakil drew his board against Bulgarian GM Kiril Georgiov while FM Minhazuddin Ahmed, FM Mehdi Hasan Parag and Debaraj Chatterjee lost to GM Ivan Cheparinov, GM Aleksander Delchev and IM Kiprian Berbatov respectively.
Bangladesh, without top players like GM Niaz Murshed, GM Ziaur Rahman, GM Reefat Bin Sattar, GM Abdullah Al Rakib and GM Enamul Hossain Rajib, are taking part in the Olympiad where some 148 teams from 144 nations are participating.
Like the men’s team, Bangladesh women’s team also lost to top-seeded Russia by 4-0 sets as WFM Shamima Akter Liza lost to IM Nadezhda Kosintseva, Sharmin Sultana Shirin lost to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, WIM Rani Hamid lost to Alisa Galliamova and Nazarana Khan Eva lost to WGM Velentina Gunina.
