Grandmaster (GM) Murtas Kazhgaleyev has arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday to train the Nepali team in preparation for the 45th Chess Olympiad 2024.

He has come to train the Nepalese team under the program ‘Project Freedom Asian Chess Initiative’ of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation. He will train in Nepal for 15 days. After that, they will also handle online training for another 15 days. Murtaz, who was in FIDE rating 2481, reached the highest rating of 2653 (November 2009).

“For the first time, the Nepalese team has got the opportunity to train with a GM-level coach,” said Dipen Rai, Senior Vice President of the Nepal Chess Federation. ” With his training, we hope that Nepali athletes will perform well in the Olympiad.” “We have succeeded in bringing Murtaz to Nepal on the initiative of Monalisha Khambu, Deputy Secretary General of the Federation.”

According to Deputy Secretary General Khambu, Murtaz is the gold medal winner in the rapid section in the 15th Asian Games (2006 Doha).

Murtaz, who won two silvers (classical and rapid) at the Asian Indoor Games in 2007, is also a two-time Paris City Chess Champion. He has played Chess Olympiad 6 times.

Nepal’s men’s and women’s teams are competing in the 45th Olympiad to be held in Budapest, Hungary from September 10 to 23. Kshitij Bhandari, Rupesh Jaiyaswal, Rajan Subedi and Sushrut Dahal are in the men’s team along with Bibek Thing who is in Australia.The women’s team consists of Sindira Joshi, Kritisara Adhikari, Pooja Bhandari, Shanti Dhimal and Riya Shrestha.