Western Asia Online Youth Chess Championships 2021

Introduction

Western Asia Online Youth Chess Championships 2021 organized by the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka on behalf of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and Asian Chess Federation from 18th to 20th September 2021. The event was held online on Tornelo platform due to Covid 19 pandemic.

901 youth players from 15 countries  (Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Palestine, Jordon & Syria) in 12 categories respectively (Under 08 to 18, Open & Girls) took part in the Western Asian Youth Online Chess Championship 2021.

There were nine rounds within three days in two separate sections in Open and Girls. Video supervision was done using zoom software during each round.

Arbiters' panel consisted of 37 Arbiters including 9 International Arbiters from Sri Lanka and from overseas. This post focused on sharing my experience as the chief arbiter of the event.

How we got ready for the event

1. We entered the players to tornelo and published the lists on chess-results.com. This helped us to check whether all the players were included in their correct age groups.
2. I assigned 6 International Arbiters for each age category as sector arbiters. The purpose of that decision was to give the responsibility to each age group.
3. After that, we wanted to assign zoom arbiters for the players. First, We assigned the zoom arbiters according to the countries, next into age groups. 
4. Three zoom accounts were used with 500 participants in each. 
5. We pre-assigned the players to respective breakout rooms in zoom with that traffic and waitings were less once the players were login to the respective zoom meetings.

Fair Play

When conducting an event online, fair play is a major factor to be considered. Following measures were taken in this event.

1. Appointed a fair play official to the event.
2. Players are allowed to use only a web browser with tornelo and the zoom software.
3. Players were closely monitored using zoom.
4. Two cameras (Front and side camera) were used with the screen share option of the players. 
5. Players were instructed to share their task manager on screen with always on top.
6. If the zoom arbiter got suspicious about the behaviour of any player arbiter was allowed to inspect the player's surroundings. 
7. During the event, fair play reports were closely monitored and more weight was given to the top 10 players on the list. 

Some players were forfeited due to the following violations

1. Players who played without zoom.
2. Players who played without either front or side cameras.
3. Players who played with running applications in their computers such as skype, ChessBase, Microsoft outlook, WhatsApp &Microsoft Teams)
4. Players who played without opening the task managers.
5. Players whose parents were presented at the playing area. (After giving warnings, players were forfeited)
6. Players who left the playing area during the game. 

WhatsApp and Gmail Opened

Outlook opened

chess.com & Gmail

Steps, I used as the Chief Arbiter

1. Two separate Google sheets were used for open and girls sections. All the players' names were included on these lists. 

(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EA0o_zEwvXNhIV6w6cK1jYw5acbQ8LEl0pihbjCHlzo/edit?usp=sharing)

1. These lists were used to check who was the assigned arbiters for each player.
2. To mark the top ten names appeared in the fair play report in each round.
3. Instructed Arbiters to put a note in the note column if they observe any irregularity. 
4. Downloaded these sheets round by round.

2. Responsibility of the age groups was given to all the sector arbiters and informed that all the zoom arbiters to contact the relevant sector arbiter before giving any decision. This enabled me to concentrate on the event.

3. Three WhatsApp groups were created. For HODs, For all the Arbiters & for Sector Arbiters, Zoom Arbiters, Tornelo Arbiters.

4. Instructed all the sector Arbiters to put a WhatsApp message in a format in the Sector arbiters, Zoom Arbiters, Tornelo Arbiters group if they forfeited a player due to violation of rules. (Tornelo arbiters can follow this group when they putting the results)

5. Maintained a separate google sheet to note down the players who forfeited due to violation of rules.

6. Informed all the arbiters about starting time then they can be ready for the next round.

7. Always got the confirmation from tornelo arbiter about the round and its progression.

8. Informed all the HODs about starting time of each round through the WhatsApp group. Then they can pass the message to players.

Pillars behind the success of the event

1. Mr Casto Abundo - Executive Director of Asian Chess Federation
2. Mr Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh - Treasure of Asian Chess Federation
3. Mr Mahdi Abdulrahim - Chairman of Arbiters' Commission in Asian Chess Federation
4. Mr Luxman Wijesuriya - President (CFSL), Vice President of Asian Chess Federation
5. Mr Erosh Jayasinghe - Treasurer (CFSL)

 

This is all possible because of the wonderful team behind the event

Individual commitment to a group effort-that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. - Vince Lombardi