41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway...Championships lost but honours gained as local chess players return home

41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway…Championships lost but honours gained as local chess players return home

Aug 20, 2014 Sports

By Michael Benjamin
They have had a poor start in their quest to procure honours at the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway after losing to Albania on the inaugural day of the championships. Efforts to improve their fortunes on day two failed to

The players enjoy a photo op shortly after their return to Guyana.

produce better results and the Guyanese players went down by a similar margin to Kyrgyzstan. Notwithstanding, the local chess team comprising Haifeng Su, Anthony Drayton, Ronuel Greenidge and Maria Gonsalves, regrouped and at the end of the tournament, which attracted 183 countries, had amassed 19 ½ points from a possible 44 to finish the tournament placed at 160.
The team has since returned home and might not have won the overall championships but was able to salvage some pride after procuring several individual commendations. Former National Junior Champion, Drayton defeated International Master, Bunmi Olape of Nigeria and Candidate Master, Charles Eichab of Nambia, and was duly promoted to a similar rank after enjoying a rating increase from 1828 to 1914.4. Greenidge was also in the money and has also clinched a similar ranking as Drayton. He started out at a rating of 162.3 and at the end of the tournament had enjoyed an increased rating of 122.4; he played a total of 11 games, won 6 and lost 5. Those ratings will be officially conferred on the players at a later date.
Yolander Persaud travelled as a chess ambassador and during the tournament, participated in a FIDE 3 days training seminar conducted by FIDE Instructor and Grandmaster, Efstratias Grivas of Greece. She was successful and is now qualified to conduct introductory courses in the sport while Meusa, whose participation in the course was compromised due to a slight administrative blunder, has earned a National Instructor title which qualifies him to coach players at the FIDE level.
Meanwhile, National Junior Champion, Haifeng Su and his predecessor, Anthony Drayton both admitted that the tournament was a tough one and tested them to the hilt. Notwithstanding, both players felt that they had benefitted immensely from the experience and are better prepared for similar championships in the future. Said Drayton, “We learnt quite a lot; things that we never believed mattered like sleeping management, eating habits and our mode of thinking but most importantly, we learned that the attainment of a high level of self-confidence was extremely important at championships of this nature.”
Haifeng Su concurred while adding that he was exposed to different modes of preparation and is certain that the new approaches will be beneficial to him as he progresses in the sport. “The tournament attracted over 200 grandmasters and former world champions and playing among such quality players left us in awe,” said Haifeng.
The team suffered setbacks early after former Junior and Senior Champion, Taffin Khan, was forced off the team when he was refused a visa to Norway after he was mistakenly fingered as a terrorist, this because of him having a similar name and birth date of someone on the list of terrorists in Norway.
The team also had to endure five days of inconvenience after their luggage was misplaced. Gonsalves said that being the only female on the team, she was most affected. Further, a technicality where she played on board four and was not allowed to change her position meant that the opposition players enjoyed the advantage of pitting their strongest players against her. Nevertheless, Gonsalves feels that the experience of playing at that level was immeasurable.
The team will resume training and competition soon and all have their eyes on the 42nd Chess Olympiad scheduled for Baku Azerbaijan in August 2016. They are all adamant that the experience in Norway will stand them in good stead.