The 45th National Chess Championship has been deferred by one day following a dispute between the participating players and organisers over the format of the tournament, which is set to get underway today at the Institution of Engineers in Dhaka.

Last year, the Bangladesh Chess Federation (BCF) opted to change the National Chess Championship format from the traditional round-robin league system to the 10-round Swiss-League system in a bid to give more exposure to junior players. However, a group of players recently demanded that they use an 11-round Swiss League format instead.

To further complicate matters, another group of players, including GM Niaz Murshed, GM Ziaur Rahman, then opposed the BCF's move to the 11-round Swiss League format without informing the players. The BCF then later convinced both factions to begin the league today with the existing 10-round Swiss League system.

"The national championship had before followed the round-robin league system with the participation of some 12 to 16 players but from last year, we have increased the players to make it 30 and introduced a 10-round Swiss League system and all players took part in the championship sans GM Abdulllah Al Rakib and GM Enamul Hossain Razib.

"Regarding the issue, we have discussed with both groups and they agreed to play in existing system from tomorrow [today] and they proposed to hold a Super Championship with the top 10 players of the national championship and we have agreed in principle to introduce new a Super Championship from the next edition," said BCF general secretary Syed Shahabuddin Shamim.