Wendell Meusa - the little Chess Master with Grand dreams

Wendell Meusa – the little Chess Master with Grand dreams

May 06, 2009 Sports

By Michael Benjamin

The recent efforts of executives of the Guyana Chess Federation to popularize the sport have produced great dividends for regular members as well as other aspiring Chess players.

Meusa poses with a few of the accolades achieved during his short but illustrious career.

Grandmaster, Rainer Buhmann’s recent visit to Guyana has also acted as inspiration, the concomitant results being an influx of tournaments as well as the attraction of fresh talent to the sport. The exploits of last year’s junior champion, Taffin Khan, is truly remarkable as this young chess wizard has destroyed all and sundry that crossed his path. He comes from a family of chess players – his dad, David Khan and sister, Krystal Khan, are also decent players – Taffin has since qualified to play among the seniors and his exploits continue to be commendable.

While Taffin’s exploits deserve commendation, another youngster has just joined the illustrious bunch of chess players and his sights are set on attaining the highest accolade the sport has to offer — that of qualifying for the status as a grandmaster.

Wendell Meusa was born in Georgetown but moved to the mining town of Linden when he was merely 14 years old. He remembers liming at Well Road, Wismar, where a group of senior citizens indulged in a game of chess while they imbibed on alcohol. “I was immediately attracted to the sport and ached to learn how it was played,” Meusa intimated.

The senior citizens were enthused by Meusa’s enthusiasm and willingly taught him the intricacies of the game. “I found the game very enticing and my interest was piqued,” Meusa reminisced.

President of the Guyana Chess Federation, Errol Tiwari (right) presents Meusa with the winner’s trophy and check moments after he was declared winner of the DDL/Topco chess championships.

The shop at Well Road soon became his favourite haunt. That was some 12 years ago. Now, the young man has great dreams of eclipsing the feats of former local chess wizard, Maurice Brooms and some day, attain the status of Grandmaster.

In September 2003, Meusa left Guyana and joined his mother, Samantha, in Barbados. His love for chess saw him becoming involved at the school level. Six months later, he was elected to captain the Ellerslie Secondary, chess team for the Inter-School Chess Championships.

This was his first major tournament in Barbados and he experienced great pleasure in coming out victorious. Added to that, he was awarded ‘The Most Valuable Player’ accolade for his key role in the team’s success.

Wendell’s sterling performance in that championship caught the attention of some of the Island’s senior players to the extent that Terry Farley, a World Chess Federation (FIDE) Master and International coach, extended an invitation for him to join the Barbados Primary and Secondary Schools Chess Club. Meusa said that only the Island’s distinguished players compete in this club. “I was introduced to a rigorous programme that entailed training from 09:00hrs-15:00hrs every day,” he disclosed.

His standard went up two levels and in 2004, merely 16 years old he signed up to play in the Classified Tournament. Participants excelling at this level were awarded partial FIDE ratings. Wendell won all 6 of his games. One year later, he participated in the Barbados Under-20 National Junior Championships and earned second place.

This achievement inspired the young man who started aiming for higher goals. In 2005 alone, he participated in the Barbados Under-20, Junior Nationals, the qualifying tournament for the National Open Championships as well as the Sagicor Open Junior Chess tournament (this tournament attracts players from most of the Caribbean countries). Wendell ended that tournament in fifth place. The following year he again entered the tournament and earned third spot.

Wendell said his most distinguished performance occurred in January this year when he participated in the National Qualifiers in Barbados for that country’s National Championships. “I finished eighth place, but what was commendable, was the quality of competition.” Indeed, that tournament attracted some of the best talent.

“Several of those players were either FIDE, or International Masters,” Meusa disclosed. Most of the participants were highly rated. “I competed among such talent as Martin Del Castilho (the highest rated junior player in the Caribbean with a rating of 2323), Bengt Hammer, a FIDE Master and Kevin Denny (an International Master). Meusa is currently rated at 1928 which represents approximately 600 below that needed to qualify for Grand Master status.

To date he has competed in many countries, against some of the best players and has enjoyed a fair degree of success. Among some his most commendable achievements were the Suriname Open Championships, where he finished in fifth place, the Jamaican Open (fourth), the CAC U-20 in Barbados (sixth) and 2006 and 2008 National Barbados Chess Championships.

He has recently returned home and immediately became immersed in the DDL/Topco Fruit Juice Independence Chess tournament that concluded yesterday at the Keishar’s Sports Club, Hadfield Street.

Several high ranking players participated in that tournament among then National Champion, Kriskal Persaud, Loris Nathoo, President of the local Federation, Errol Tiwari and Treasurer, Shiv Nandalall. Meusa rebounded from a fifth round loss to the National Champion to register 7 points and claim the championships.

It is the first of many victories he hopes to accomplish while back home in Guyana. However, the young chess player has his eyes set on bigger and more prestigious accolades. The proficient chess player is confident that with hard work and commitment coupled with the right ‘moves’ he would eventually attain that coveted goal.