(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Three members of Oman's chess team - Amer al Maashani Mohammed al Mashikhi and Salem al Amri - achieved key individual milestones when they returned with FIDE rankings after making their debut in the 41st World Chess Olympiad in Tromso Norway recently.
Maashani became the first Omani holder of the FIDE Master (FM) title while Mashikhi and Amri received the FIDE Candidate Master (CM) titles which are awarded by the FIDE world chess body.
The five-member Omani team accompanied by coach Karim Ismael also improved upon its overall ranking by 33 places as it ended 141st after going into the event in the 174th place.
A total of 1570 players participated in the Olympiad with 881 in the open and 689 in the women's section. The number of participating teams was 177 from 172 countries in the open section and 136 from 131 countries in the women's event.
It was the second major event for the Omani players after their participation in the Asian Cup in May where the team got the opportunity to play against heavyweights China and India. The national team was backed by PDO for the world championship.
Coach Ismael a FIDE International Master (IM) said 'The results are satisfying as we now have three Omanis with Elo ratings. Maashani's rank is below the title of IM but above CM. It is awarded to a player who achieves an Elo rating of 2300.'
The FM was introduced by the world chess governing body in 1978 and there are currently nearly 6000 players under this category. Mashikhi and Amri's CM ranks mean each of them now has an Elo rating of 2200.
Introduced in 2002 the most usual way for a player to qualify for the CM title is by achieving an Elo rating of 2200.
The rank is below other open FIDE titles but above the women's FM and women's CM.
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