Rani Hamid, the country’s first Woman International Master (WIM), will represent Bangladesh in the upcoming 44th Chess Olympiad as another WIM Sharmin Sultana Shirin withdrew her name due to family issues. The upcoming Chess Olympiad will be held on 10-23 September in Budapest, Hungary and Bangladesh Chess Federation (BCF) will compete in both open and women’s categories.
The top five chess players of the recently concluded 42nd National Women Chess Championship 2024 were confirmed to play in the Olympiad, but Shirin, who became runners-up in the meet, withdrew her participation. “Shirin will not participate in the Olympiad for family issues, so we have registered sixth-ranked Rani Hamid,” BCF general secretary Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim told reporters on Sunday.
The rest of four other participants are: champion Woman FIDE Master (WFM) Noshin Anjum, third-placed WFM Wadifa Ahmed, fourth-placed, Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Nusrat Jahan Alo and fifth-placed Walijah Ahmed.