The disclosure that the President of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, has initiated two new tournaments for the Caribbean, is good news for Guyana. Although the details are not known as yet, we feel a sense of euphoria at the announcement. If one tournament is geared towards strengthening the chess talents of our region, then Guyana should accelerate its development of the ancient game.
In Guyana there are some young talents who require training. Foremost on the list are Taffin Khan, Wendell Muesa and Ronuel Greenidge; and from among the juniors, we have Cecil Cox, Saeed Ali, the Khan brothers, Khalil Gajraj, the Motilall brothers, etc.
Some time in the near future perhaps, we might be successful in negotiating a full chess scholarship for one of our hopefuls. Arrangements continue to be put in place for Guyana’s first FIDE-rated tournament which begins on Thursday, July 1. The tournament will be held at the National Stadium and two games will be played each day over the Caricom holiday weekend.
The tournament ends on Monday, July 5. At the conclusion of the tournament, six local players are expected to have world ratings. Qualification for international ratings would not be automatic.
Players are compelled to either draw with, or beat their foreign counterparts who are already FIDE-rated. Only in this way would they qualify for international ratings.
Ian Nepomniachtchi v Nigel Short
Ukranian grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk has won the Elite Group of the Capablanca Memorial Chess Tournament 2010 in Cuba. The tournament is an annual event which is held to commemorate Jose Raul Capablanca, 1888—-1942, former world chess champion and Cuba’s most famous chess player.
The Elite Group, with an average rating of 2700, consisted of a double round robin competition among six players. Ian Nepomniachtchi, the European chess champion who is 19, placed second in the Group, and Dominiguez Perez from Cuba, third. Here is Nepomniachtchi’s win against British grandmaster Nigel Short.
Short,N (2685) – Nepomniachtchi,I (2695)
45th Capablanca Mem Elite Havana CUB (8), 18.06.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 g6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Be3 Nf6 8.Be2 Bd7 9.Nb3 Rc8 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qe1 a6 12.Kh1 b5 13.Rd1 Nb4 14.Rd2 Nxc2 15.Rxc2 b4 16.Bxa6 Ra8 17.Bd3 bxc3 18.bxc3 Ra4 19.e5 Nd5 20.Bd4 Bc6 21.Rd2 Qa8 22.exd6 exd6 23.Bxg7 Re8 24.Qa1 Ne3
25.Rg1? 25…Nxg2! 26.Rgxg2 Rxa2 27.Rxa2 Qxa2 28.Bf1 Bxg2+ White Resigns! 0-1.
