Wadifa, Walijah set out for Chess Olympiad tomorrow

While FIDE Master Tahsin Tajwar Zia will be full of grief for not getting the opportunity to accompany his father, GM Ziaur Rahman, like the previous edition of the Chess Olympiad, it will be a joyous moment for two sisters – WFM Wadifa Ahmed and WCM Walijah Ahmed — to represent Bangladesh in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.
Tahsin will represent Bangladesh in open section along with GM Niaz Murshed, GM Enamul Hossain Razib, IM Fahad Rahman and FM Manon Reza Neer while Wadifa and Walijah are set to play in women’s section along with WIM Rani Hamid, WFM Noshin Anjum and CM Nushrat Jahan Alo.
Bangladesh have set their sights on improvement in the Chess Olympiad compared to the 2022 edition in India where Bangladesh men finished 66th among 188 teams while Bangladesh women became 56th among 162 teams.
Both teams will leave for Hungary tomorrow, with the competition set to get underway on Wednesday.
Wadifa and Walijah had previously hit the headlines by becoming national junior champions in successive years. Elder sister Wadifa had got two opportunities to participate in Chess Olympiad but could not do so due to the coronavious outbreak in 2020 and due to her exams in 2022.
“There was uncertainty this time too due to the recent situation in the country but finally I am leaving with my younger sister to play the Chess Olympiad which is a matter of joy for us,” Wadifa told reporters after the official briefing at Bangladesh Chess Federation hall room today.
Following the death of Ziaur Rahman and the student movements, neither of the teams were able to take proper preparation for the Chess Olympiad even though GM Rajib trained the women’s team for the competition.
Tahsin, along with his father Zia, had made a piece of history by becoming the country’s first father-son duo to play in Chess Olympiad. This time, though, he has to represent the country alone and he feels the absence of his father.
“I still can’t believe that my father is no more. My father wanted me to qualify for the national team this time too, so that I can play the Chess Olympiad and I am going to play but my father is absent,” Tahsin said at the very hall where his father breathed his last on a chess board on July 5.
Meanwhile, Fahad, Tashin and Neer will have the opportunity to achieve respective norms for Grand Master and International Master.