Bhutan Chess Federation

  At the end of the 45th Chess Olympiad, in Budapest, Hungary and after a brilliant performance by our Women and Open team. We must take the time to thank all our supporters, well wishers without whom non of this was possible. I would like to start by thanking IM Atanu Lahiri our team Captain and Coach without whom our players would not be able to have done as well as they did at the Olympiad. And he did all of this without taking any payment for his time and effort. Unfortunately he was unable to accompany the team to Budapest as his mother got sick and passed away during the Olympiad. May her departed soul rest in peace. We send you our deepest condolences Sir. To the India Bhutan Foundation (IBF) who supported us with a tournament which we used to expose our players to tough competition from India and for funding the travel of our coach IM Atanu Lahiri to Thimphu to conduct a 3 days training class to get to know our players and to evaluate them. The financial support for India...

Team India takes  double gold. India Open and Women Team have won the 45th Chess Olympiad. Congratulations India we knew you would storm the world. You have made all of us proud with this amazing result. The Dragon Warriors of Druk Yul. Bhutan has in our own way done amazingly well. Team Bhutan ends the 45th Chess Olympiad with the best results in the three Chess Olympiad we have taken part in.  Team Bhutan (Open) started the chess Olympiad ranked 171 and ended the Olympiad ranked 141 (30 rank jump) and the Women team started the Olympiad ranked 164 and finished the Olympiad ranked 147 (17 rank jump). The Open team jumped up 30 ranks while the Women team jumped up 17 ranks. OPEN TEAM Year               Starting Rank              Final Rank           Total points 2014            169                  ...

Chess Olympiad 2024 at the BOK sports center Round 10 has been 2 double wins in a row for team Bhutan. This is straight after our double win in the 9th round. With todays victory the 45th Chess Olympiad team to Budapest, is the most successful team ever since Bhutan started taking part of the Chess Olympiad since 2014. Lhundrup Dorji has 5.5 point after 10 rounds Suk Raj has 5.5 points after  10 rounds Asha Huang has 5 points after 10 rounds Pema Yangsel has 4 points after 10 rounds Yeshay Lhaden has 3.5 points after10 rounds  Bhakta Monger has 2 points after 10 rounds Mahindra Gurung has 2 points after 10 rounds Namgay Dolma has 1 point after 10 rounds Every member of the team has already won at least one match each. The 2014 Open team had only 8 points which included a walkover given to Karma Sonam by one of his opponents. The team had actually only 7 points after playing all 11 rounds. No Women team participated in 2014 The 2022 Open team had 13.5 points after 11 rounds. Wh...

  The Dragon Warriors fighting at the Chess Olympiad Round nine has been a BIG day for team Bhutan, our Dragon WARRIORS won both the Open and the Women matches.  The Open team got a comfortable 3.5v.5 win versus US Virgin Islands with impressive wins from Lhundrup Dorji (4th win) our youngest player, Mahindra got his first win today after long and hard fought end game, Suk Raj got his 5th win of the tournament, and Bhakta got his 2nd draw of the tournament. The women team beat Vanatu 2.5v1.5 with wins by Asha Huang who got her 4th win of the tournament, Pema Yangsel, acheived her 3rd win of the tournament and draw by Yeshay Lhaden. After todays results all our 8 team members have acheived positive results in this Olympiad. This ia another major milestone for our team.   The 45th Olympiad is about to become the most successful Olympiad ever for Bhutan. We need to had a good 10th and 11th round and the team will have done it. Lets go #DragonWarriors   

L to Right, Bhakta, Yeshay, Lhundrup, Namgay, Asha, Mahindra, Pema and Suk Raj After the 7th round of the 45th Chess Olympiad, Team Bhutan had another fantastic day,  the Women team won another hard fought battle 3v1 against Saint Kitts and the Nevis and Open team had a gut wrenching thriller to draw 2v2 against Democratic Republic of Congo. In the women team, Asha got her 3rd win, Namgay Dolma achieved her 1st win of the Olympiad and Yeshay Lhaden got her 2nd win. Pema Yangsel also has had 2 wins so far in the Olympiad.  After the 7th round all the Women team, have had individual wins in this Olympiad with 2 match wins out of 7 Matches for the Women team. The Open team got their 3rd draw today with Lhundrup Dorji student of Dr Tobgyal School the youngest player in the Open team getting his 3rd win of the tournament and Suk Raj getting his 4th individual win today. Lhundrup had the opportunity to get a win by default today, as his original opponent was unable to play due to a ...

Lhundrup and Suk Raj of the Open Team On the 4th Day of the 45th Chess Olympiad, the Women team won 3 games to win the match 3 v 1 against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This is our first Big win for Team Bhutan. Asha Limboo, Yeshay Lhaden and Pema Yangsel (Youngest female player) won their respective game to give Bhutan our first win. The Open Team also opened their account with two hard fought wins for Lhundrup Dorji (The youngest Open player) and a 2nd win for Suk Raj. The match was a draw with 2 v 2 score against Burkina Faso team from Africa. The match was a roller coaster as the Bhutan team got a early decesive win by Lhundrup, and then a solid win by Suk Raj, but the team was unable to get the match win as Mahindra and Bhakta could not find the win. The 45th Olympiad has the potential to have the best ever performance by any Bhutan Team out of the three Chess Olympiad we have participated so far.  In 2014 OLympiad in Tromso Norway the then team only one won one match and ...

Mr. Bhakta B Monger. On the 3rd Day of 45th Chess Olympiad at Budapest, Hungary 2024, Mr. Bhakta B Monger makes Team Bhutan PROUD. After a long almost 4 hours of grind Bhakta held the 1988 rated Sergio board 1 of Sao Tome and Principe to a draw. After emerging from the opening with a balanced position, Bhakta had to fight hard in the middle part of the game where he found himself under a lot of pressure and behind his opponent. Bhakta kept his cool and as time was running out for both players. His opponent could not manage to keep up the pressure and on move 42 made a mistake with Nc1 and Bhakta got the initiative and built the pressure until a draw was offered. We are proud of Bhakta's achievement  under such a intense pressure. After round 3 our Open team lost the match 3 v .5 against Sao Tome and Principe, and the Women team lost 4 v 0 versus Malawi. We are confident our team will start winning soon. We hope to see many well fought victories at the 44th Chess Olympiad.

Suk Raj makes history at the 45th Chess Olympiad, at Budapest, Hungary Dear Chess enthusiast, I am happy to share our first good news from the 45th Chess Olympiad after the 2nd round out of the 11 rounds that will be played this Olympiad. Mr. Suk Raj becomes the first player in the history of Bhutan chess to defeat a 2000+ FIDE rated player in a official chess tournament. This a big brekthrough moment for Bhutan Chess. Now our players know they can beat Master level players. In the FIDE rating system you need to have at least 2000 rating to get a Master title. This rare acheivement has elludade all Bhutanese chess players till date. Mr. Suk Raj played a brillant game getting the advantage from the opening and then holding on till the end to find the win against Mr. Monnaatsheko K, the 2064 FIDE rated player from Botswana. FIDE President Mr. Arkady Opening the chess Exhibition at the Olympiad. The Bhutan Open team lost 3 v 1 to Botswana and the Women team lost 4 v 0 to Chinese Taipei. A...

                                                                   The Bhutan Open team before the 1st round. Left to right Lhundrup, Suk Raj, Mahendra, and Bhakta    Dear chess enthusiast's, I am writing a short note,  to update all the chess enthusiast about the progress of the Team Bhutan at the 45th Chess Olympiad, at Budapest, Hungary. After a long and tiring flight via India and Poland to get to Budapest, Hungary, the team arrived tired but excited to explore and meet the challenges of the 45th Chess Olympiad. The players are in a positive mindset and met the 1st round challenge against Albania (Open) and Indonesia (Women), with a quiet and determined resilience.  The players of Team Bhutan Open and Women Team. In a Swiss System tournament it always starts with weaker teams playing against stro...