From the doldrums to several lucrative FIDE ratings

Jan 04, 2012 Sports

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The steady progression of chess

 

By Michael Benjamin
The year 2010 was marred by disgruntlement among executives and affiliates of several sports Federations/Associations, more particularly the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), two entities so beset by internal problems that it has reflected adversely on the progression of the respective players. However, amidst the concomitant disputes and acrimony within some of the ruling bodies, chess has stood out administratively and is now on the precipice of major achievements.

The sport has been touted as an integral catalyst to academic development among players and has stealthily progressed from an inconsequential board game to an important feature on the local sports calendar. Under the stewardship of former President of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) Errol Tiwari, who has since relinquished the position citing poor health, and the current President Shiv Nandalall, chess has made its mark over the preceding year to the extent that several local players have earned FIDE ratings after engaging several top rated international players in a specially arranged local tournament. Heading the list is current national champion, Taffin Khan and his dad, David. Other players of this distinction include President Nandalall, Wendell Meusa, Loris Nathoo, Ronwell Greenidge and Ryan Singh.
Taffin is undeniably a success story after dominating the junior ranks where he had captured that title. He subsequently relinquished that accolade and graduated to the senior ranks where he defeated an illustrious field, finally dethroning veteran senior champion, Kriskal Persaud for the title which the latter player had held unchallenged for a number of years. Khan had also engaged former national champion, Wendell Meusa and both have enjoyed glorious moments opposing each other and sharing the spoils in different tournaments.
Meusa lost the title by default after being sanctioned by the GCF for a period that enveloped the National Championships. Since then he has not participated in most of the competitions arranged by the ruling body. However, the aspiring grandmaster who has had a prolific stint in Barbados had promoted several tournaments at the American Peace College, Sherriff Street Campbellville and still remains among the prolific players.
Despite the individual achievements of the players, the executive body of the GCF must be lauded for the strides made within the chess fraternity over the preceding year.
The main objective of this group was to promote the game in a broad based manner and when they introduced it into the rural communities the move was well received and from all indications was a resounding success.
Notably, several tournaments were staged outside of in Georgetown staring in Linden in May, 2011. Activities then moved over to the West Coast Demerara in July and Berbice in October and December.
Consequently, chess officials have conducted clinics that introduced the sport to rural communities starting with the one during the school vacation in August. Similar sessions were also conducted in Georgetown at the Carifesta Sports Complex and subsequently at the C.V. Nunes Primary School and the New Opportunity Corps on the Essequibo coast.
The benefits derived from those activities were reflected in the monthly tournaments and the remarkable improvement of several junior players who registered major upsets over their senior counterparts.
The fraternity also benefited from the largesse of the business community and friends and notably, GT&T donated 4 outdoor chess tables in April. This gift has been placed in the avenue along Main Street where chess demonstrations were staged even as Alex Joseph, a GCF trainer, conducted introductory sessions for children drawn mainly from the depressed Tiger Bay community.
The chess fraternity closed its calendar of activities in December with the fourth National Schools’ Chess Championship, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. The benefits derived from the earlier enacted rural initiative were apparent as more than 80 schools from Berbice, Linden and Georgetown participated in the tournament.
President of the GCF, Shiv Nandalall when contacted yesterday expressed satisfaction with the strides made by his organization and vowed to continue along similar lines during this new dispensation.
He believes that provided the high level of support received from the Sports Ministry and the business community continues, chess will continue to impact positively on the lives of all affiliates.

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