Chess

The elimination process for determining a national champion of chess for Guyana is underway.  The competitive spirit is fierce, and the qualifying tournament this year is by far the most serious and intense we have witnessed since the engines of chess were restarted two years ago.

Errol Tiwari

First of all, the strongest players in the country are competing vigorously for a place in the National Champion-ships. Only seven persons from among the seniors can go forward to the Nationals, and eight from among the juniors.

The national champion Kriskal Persaud is already seeded and he will join the seven qualifiers for one grand tournament in November. We are already seeing some new talent among the juniors, and after four rounds, we have two players who have not as yet lost a game. The top six finishers from among the juniors would most likely represent Guyana at the Inter-Guiana games next month in Paramaribo.

Ronuel Greenidge and Taffin Khan are the leaders in the senior category. The two faced each other last Friday evening. Meusa was beaten by Learie Webster in one of the upsets of the tournament. And I believe we have more upsets to see. Players are taking their games seriously. In the junior category, the two Motilall brothers from West Demerara are playing well. And incidentally, for this tournament, the juniors have outnumbered their senior counterparts.The game seems to be catching on in schools.

Ronuel Greenidge defeated Chino Chung during their encounter last Sunday in the Senior category of the National Qualification Chess Tournament currently underway at the Kei-Shar’s Sports Club.

Young people like the internet, and the internet has transformed the game, making it easy to grasp and easy for players  anywhere to find an opponent at his/her strength day or night. The computer is the reason we are now having grandmasters of chess in their early teens. So I am not surprised that the juniors have been improving their game rapidly. I hope the trend continues unabated.

Today the elimination tournament continues at the Kei-Shar’s Sports Club.

Kana Khan and Rashad Hussein concentrate on their game in the Junior segment of the tournament.