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41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway underway…Guyana suffer double whammy
By Michael Benjamin
Guyana’s representatives at the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway have suffered poor fortunes, after the first two rounds concluded Saturday and yesterday morning. The Guyana team faced off with their counterparts from Albania on the first day and lost their respective encounters. Efforts to regain some footing in the second round yesterday morning against a team from Kyrgyzstan produced similar results and all four players surrendered their individual games.
The players hope to better their fortunes when play resumes this morning. From left are:
Anthony Drayton, Haifeng Su, supporter Yolander Persaud, Coach/Manager, Wendell Meusa,
Maria Thomas and Ronuel Greenidge.
After conceding their respective matches on Saturday, the Guyanese players resumed duties yesterday morning but did not fare better. Anthony Drayton (1828) lost to FM Tologontegin (2354) while Ronuel Greenidge (1630) surrendered to IM Abdyjapar A (2368). Maria Varona Thomas (1777) and Haifeng Su (1724) lost their games to Mamotov M(2106) and Takyrbashev (2229) respectively.
The players resumed duty this morning and hope to better their fortunes.
Meanwhile, Guyana suffered a double whammy after two of its key players, National (Senior) Champion, Wendell Meusa and his predecessor, Taffin Khan, were omitted from the tournament for differing reasons. Khan was denied a visa after officials in the Dutch Embassy revealed that a certain Taffin Khan is on a terrorist watch list. Ironically, along with the name, the suspected terrorist also carries the identical date of birth as the former chess champion and the officials chose to be on the safe side and denied the visa. Officials of the Guyana Chess Federation requested, and was granted a review, but failed to have the decision overturned.
President of the GCF, Irshad Mohamed when asked to comment on this development said, “I am saddened with the loss of (Taffin) Khan as he is one of the stronger players the country has presently and would have definitely augmented our chances of a satisfactory placing in the tournament.
The GCF President said that Meusa’s case is vastly different but just as disappointing. He said that the local champion had once resided, and represented, Barbados and despite returning to play for Guyana years ago, was still on record as a Bajan representative. Mr. Mohamed further said that his executives are currently in dialogue with the Barbados Federation to have Meusa’s transfer completed. He said that this procedure would last for approximately three months which effectively debars Meusa’s participation in Norway. Nevertheless, Meusa’s presence in Norway is still an asset as he is performing the role of coach/manager of the team.
The players received support from the Office of the President, Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Co, National Sports Commission, Caribbean Container Inc, Toolsie Persaud Limited, Oasis Café and Café Bean.
With more than 150 participating countries, the Chess Olympiad is the world’s third largest sporting event. An estimated 600 million people play chess worldwide and Norway is home to the world’s best chess player, Magnus Carlsen. A total of 1500 chess players are currently in Tromsø to participate in the Chess Olympiad. Further, and unlike Guyana, where chess has not been regarded as a spectator’s sport, more than 100 million unique internet spectators will get an opportunity to view the proceedings through the Olympiads Internet Portal. A 14-day cultural event is also planned for the period of the tournament and will be staged in collaboration with the Chess Olympiad.
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