2022 will be the first year that Jersey has ever entered an all-female team for the Chess Olympiad, which this year will take place in Chennai, India.
With more than 2,000 chess players descending on the bustling Indian city from 200 countries, this will be an immense battle of minds and a first for Jersey women too.
The first time Jersey played in a Chess Olympiad was in 1972, in Skopje in North Macedonia, although the team comprised of players from both Jersey and Guernsey. They have since played in other Olympiads throughout the world, but as a mixed team so available to both male and female players but based on playing strength. This will therefore be the first time ever that Jersey has been represented by an all-female chess team, which will be accompanied by an Open team, that is incidentally made up of 5 male players.
Meet the team
Playing in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India for Jersey are [left to right]: Rachel Ruddy, Lula Roberts, Yasmin Forbes, Monika Ashbrooke, and Daisy Carpenter.
How is a Chess Olympiad run?
Each day, four out of the five players from the Jersey team will play games of chess against components from more than 200 nations in the Open Olympiad. The games will involve a mix of all-female players and mixed players too in the Open section whereas the Women's team above will only play against other females.
There are 11 rounds in total over a 2 week period (with a couple of rest days thrown in and a Bermuda party that has legendary status!) so 55 games will be played by the Jersey Women's team and 55 games will be played by the Guernsey Open team, which means that each player will play between 6 and 11 games each depending on form, fatigue etc. The Jersey Open team for Chennai 2022 is Krzysztof Belzo, Paul Wojciechowski, Paul Carpenter, Jem Gurner and Garry Forbes.
Out of the 11 matches that Jersey will play against different countries, they would certainly hope to win a few and winning 4 of the 11 matches would be viewed as a good Olympiad.