Bangladeshi chess players have had limited success in the Commonwealth Chess Championship since its inception in the early 1980s and nothing of note is expected this time around either. Instead, the Delhi Commonwealth Chess Championship, which begins today, is being considered a platform for the country's youngsters, who have been training for the past three months.

GM Niaz Murshed earning his second Grand Master norm from the Hong Kong Championship in 1984 and GM Enamul Hossain Razib finishing third in Nagpur in 2008 are Bangladesh's only achievements in the Championship. This time around, organisers are expecting to earn one or two IM norms in the Open Section but their main focus is on how their budding players perform on the big stage.

Four Grand Masters -- Niaz, Ziaur Rahmna, Razib and Abdullah Al Rakib -- along with WIM Shamima Akter Liza, WIM Rani Hamid, FM Tayebur Rahman and WFM Sharmin Sultana Shirin will be taking part in the Open Section. Meanwhile, 12 budding players, including four girls, will be playing in different age groups from Under-8 to Under-20. They will fly for Delhi today.

"For the first time we are sending a big 21-player contingent at the expense of the federation -- the players had participated at the Commonwealth Chess Championships before at their own expense," said Bangladesh Chess Federation general secretary Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim at a press conference at the NSC conference room yesterday.

"Our main target to participate in this championship is to judge our young players, who have been training under three Grand Masters for three months. We want to see how they perform and then take necessary steps in the future for further improvement. If needed we will appoint foreign Grand Masters for this group of boys and girls," said Shamim.

"We are not expecting good results from this group of boys and girls but we want them to gather some valuable experience from the championship so they can evaluate their performances and be more serious," said Shamim. "However, we are hopeful that FM Mohammad Fahad Rahman can win a gold medal in the U-14 category."

Grand Master Ziaur Rahman praised such initiatives and urged the federation to create more opportunities for budding players to take chess ahead.

"It is a good initiative that the federation is sending more juniors than seniors and it will help groom them for the future. Fahad [Rahman] is expected to produce good results while others will also be playing good games," said Zia, whose son Tahsin Tajwar Zia will be participating in the U-12 category.

As for the target of the senior players, Zia said that they would be trying to improve upon the positions where they finished in some recent tournaments.