CARIFTA Chess Championships postponed

Mar 22, 2020 Sports

The CARIFTA Junior Chess Championships have now joined the Track and Field and Swimming Championships in being postponed in wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the Caribbean Region.

Chess action has also been suspended due to concerns over the coronavirus.

It had already been inferred that the Junior Chess Championships would be postponed or cancelled, but official notification came on Thursday through a correspondence from the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF), wherein it was declared that the tournament has been postponed until further notice, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The release noted that the Federation would be, “monitoring the progress of the pandemic with the hope of soon seeing a downward trend in the infection curve.”
Hosted by the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) in association with the Confederation of Chess for the Americas, this tournament was scheduled to take place from April 10th to 13th at the Ramada Hotel, and had attracted about 125 players from 10 Caribbean nations, as well as Suriname.
The organising committee is said to have been in contact with the principal stakeholders, who have expressed full support for the GCF’s decision and have agreed to extend the franchise to a later date.
In these championships, Guyana plans to field 100 players whose ages range from 6 years old to 19 years old. These players have all been in training, or playing developmental tournaments for the past few months, and most of them are products of the GCF’s ‘Chess in Schools’ programme.
Formal training sessions over the past weeks have been cancelled, but the National Coaches have organized online training and tournaments to keep their skills sharp.
The GCF is assuring all sponsors, players, and parents or care-givers that the ninth CARIFTA Junior Chess Championships will be held in Guyana, and will be conducted with the health and safety of all players, delegates and officials as the primary priority.
The Organizing Committee plans to use this time of postponement to review all arrangements; hopefully, attract new sponsors; and to provide extended training for the junior players.

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