Officials of the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy pose for a photograph.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Under the patronage of Sheikha Fatima Bint Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairwoman of Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy (FBMA), and President of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain Ladies Clubs, the academy organises the second edition of the FBMA Blitz Chess tournament in cooperation with Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Abu Dhabi Chess and Culture Club and UAE Chess Federation.

The event will be held on Wednesday, Dec.16, 2020, at Abu Dhabi Ladies Club multipurpose hall, while following all the precautionary measures.

The tournament will take place according to the Swiss system, which consists of 11 rounds, the first round will start at 5:00pm and after that the rounds will continue until 8:30pm.

The strategic goal of the tournament is to expand the activities and events of the academy in various sports and focus on spreading the sport of chess in particular among the female component, especially as it has started to witness a turnout and development in recent times due to its distinctive sporting value at the global and Arab level.

The academy was keen to allow the spread of chess for all women who are citizens and residents of the UAE to practice and compete in this sport.

Therefore, participation was opened for all nationalities to allow the largest possible number of segments of society to engage in this experience.

The registrations will close on Tuesday at 10:00 pm, and also the academy has indicated to those who wish to register, need to show a negative PCR result that does not exceed 48 hours before the tournament date.

It is decided that the tournament will follow the Swiss system and all the laws of the International Chess Federation will be applied to its course, and the duration of each move has been decided to be three minutes for each player with an addition of two seconds for each move played.

Also, by using the Swiss system to conduct the tie breaker, and the tournament will be carried out by following all preventive measures for the sake of everyone's safety. Health requirements will be applied in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Ladies Club, and to ensure that the competition hall is sterilised, in addition to leaving a sufficient distance between the championship tables to ensure social distancing.

The organizing committee also allocated cash prizes for the tournament amounting of Dhs25,000.

For her part, Fatima Al Ali stressed that organizing the tournament at this time is a continuation of the success of the previous edition, and added: “We are very pleased to announce the launch of the 2nd edition of this tournament, which seeks to develop women's sport in a unique manner, and we hope that this edition will be awarded.

“We hope that FBMA'S Blitz Chess will be receiving high participation from chess players from all over the country. All the ladies who wish to participate can register by visiting the Academy’s official website and select the tournament option, then fill out the form and send it via the email on the same page. We wish the best luck for all the participants and female players in the tournament. "