Guyana Chess teams record best performances in recently concluded Olympiad

Oct 08, 2018 Sports

Guyana’s Open and Women teams recorded improved performances at the just concluded 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia.
The Women’s team recorded 7 team points compared with 6 team points in the previous Olympiad held in Baku Azerbaijan in Year 2016. Women Chess Masters Maria Thomas and Sheriffa Alli led the scoring with 6.5 match points and 4.5 match points respectively, first time debutants Nelisha Johnson and 14-Year-Old Sasha Shariff scored 3.0 and 1.5 points respectively.
The Open team scored 9 points compared to 5 points at the last Olympiad and 6 points in the 2014 Olympiad held in Tromso Norway.
The Open team brought 4th place in their Category, the first time in the last three Olympiads that Guyana managed to place in the Top 10 for their Category. Overall Guyana placed 138th out of the 184 countries that participated, an improvement of 26 places from the 164th placed finish in 2016.
The table below compares the performance of the Caricom countries that participated in the last two Olympiads:

As the table shows Guyana had the most improved performance of all the Caricom countries, improving from the bottom of the list to the middle of the table. This performance was led by young Chess Masters Taffin Khan 6.5 match points and Anthony Draytron 6.0 Match points, debutants Glenford Corlette and Loris Nathoo chipped in with 3.5 and 2.5 match points respectively.
In the General Assembly of FIDE, President of the Guyana Chess Federation Mr. James A. Bond nominated Ms. Yolander Persaud to be a member of the Ethics Commission. It took a bit of on floor campaigning as there were fifteen (15) nominees it this hotly contested election. However, after two (2) rounds voting Ms. Persaud was amongst the top five (5). This is historic in itself as no Guyanese has ever been a part of the administration of FIDE. Commenting on this feat President of the GCF remarked that it was our sole purpose to put Guyana on the map of FIDE and this is the start. We have now made strategic alliances and the Federation is poised for impacting administrative changes in the months ahead.
The President and Executive Committee of the Guyana Chess Federation expresses thanks to the Government of Guyana, the Ministry of Sport, Sports Director Mr. Christopher Jones, Corporate Guyana, FIDE, and the many other well-wishers of Chess who made the participation of the Guyana team to the Chess Olympiad possible.
The Federation has a Calendar of events planned for Year 2019 that aims to continue the development of Chess, including in the schools and communities in all parts of Guyana. This plan we are sure will see continued improved performances by Guyana in International events such as the just concluded Chess Olympiad.

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