Malta participating at the Chess Olympiads in India

The Maltese Chess contingent composed of the two national teams is in Chennai, India to participate in the 44th World Chess Olympiad.

A grand opening ceremony took place on July 28 and the games started the following day and will come to a close on August 10.  

Malta is amongst the 185 participating countries – a record number of participants since the last Olympiads held in Batumi, Georgia in 2018.

The men’s team under the leadership of Robert Novak, is composed of Candidate Master (CM) Colin Pace, CM Jake Darmanin, CM Duncan Vella, CM David Cilia Vincenti and Jack Mizzi. 

Mizzi is joining the team for his first Olympiad experience.  

The women’s team is composed of Woman Fide Master (WFM) Filipina Thornton, WFM Jamie Farrugia, Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Uranchimeg Psaila, Milena Stagno and Hayley Thornton.  This is also the first Olympiad debut for Thornton, who at 11 years old, is amongst the youngest participants. 

Both teams won one match from the three rounds so far, facing much stronger teams. 

The men’s team played against Serbia, Timor-Leste and Ecuador; whilst the women’s team played against Greece, Buthan and Bangladesh. 

Fide Master (FM) Geoffrey Borg, president of the Malta Chess Federation (MCF) and Adrian Mizzi are the delegates in charge of the Maltese contingent. 

Malta is also represented by Noel Grima in his role as an arbiter during the Olympiads.