Titled players have been graduating from some of the world’s poorest nations

Chess, like music and mathematics, has its prodigies. Extraordinary chess talent, similar to mathematical and musical abilities, is demonstrated early in life, and once identified, has to be carefully cultivated. Chess grandmasters are achieving their titles at a much younger age than previously. Fischer became a grandmaster at 15, but nowadays, 13 and a few months, seems to be the magic qualifying number.

Chess is financially and culturally rewarding when a grandmaster emerges, especially from a third world, or even a second world country. Over the years, many grandmasters have become celebrities, even heroes, in their homelands. Consider India, for example. For a decade Anand was among the world’s top three players and became the first Indian to earn the elusive grandmaster title. He won the world junior championship in 1987 and the World Chess Federation championship in 2000. He has won all of the world’s regularly scheduled major tournaments at least once. That Anand inspired thousands of his countrymen to play the ancient game is no exaggeration. India now boasts 35 grandmasters and 70 international masters (the stepping stone to grandmaster status) aspiring to achieve their grandmaster titles, according to the FIDE January 2014 ranking list. In addition to those statistics, India boasts 12 women grandmasters and a number of women international masters.

Draped elegantly in the maple leaf red and white flag of Canada, Harmony Zhu stands ready to receive her cherished gold medal in the girls Under-8 category of the World Youth Chess Championships. Over 1700 competitors from 171 nations fought gamely for prizes in the tournament. Guyana did not attend the competition.

Nearer to home within the English-speaking Caribbean, Maurice Ashley, a naturalized Jamaican-American citizen, became the first black grandmaster worldwide. Since that time in the nineties, titled players have been steadily graduating from some of the third world’s poorest nations. In 2010, I played the Bahamas Open in Nassau, when another Jamaican made his first grandmaster norm. Three norms are required for full grandmaster status. Regrettably, we continue to reminisce about how far ahead we were in international chess in contrast to Jamaica. Now it’s a no-contest between Guyana and Jamaica, with the trend going in favour of Jamaica. The ongoing difficulty resides in the fact that unless we attend international tournaments, we cannot qualify for titles. And if we do not possess the wherewithal to attend international tournaments, we will continue, as the saying goes, to run around in circles. Getting nowhere!

Let us look at the World Youth Championships which were contested in late December in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

The seven year-old Canadian Harmony Zhu captured my imagination at the chess championships when she carried home gold for her country. Harmony competed successfully in the Girls Under-8 category which boasted a total of 117 players. The competition had in excess of 1700 competitors from 171 nations. India proved to be the biggest winner of the competition, amassing a total of eight medals, including three golds. China also went away with three golds, but the Chinese medal haul was not as expansive as that of India. And Iran claimed its historic first gold medal of the championships in the Under-18 category.

In local chess news, the Guyana Chess Federation holds its annual general meeting today at the Carifesta Sports Complex, Carifesta Avenue, from 10 am. Financial members of the federation are invited to attend.

Chess games
The following games were played in the Tata Steel tournament in the Netherlands

Canada’s seven year-old chess and music prodigy, Harmony Zhu, (in photo above), in unwavering concentration at the chessboard during her final decisive game at the recent World Youth Chess Championships at Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates. The remarkably talented Zhu captured the coveted gold medal for the Girls-under-8 category of the championships. She even elicited a comment from former world champion Garry Kasparov, who said: “Did you see the Canadian girl? Very impressive!” In addition to playing a sharp brand of chess, Harmony is equally talented on the piano, playing Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, etc, with ease and courage. She performed at the Carnegie Hall in New York twice in 2013. Harmony is a student at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Her brilliant performances in both disciplines will, perhaps, promote the name of her nation at the same time.

Aronian v Nakamura

Site: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Date: January 15
Result: 1-0
White: Levon Aronian
Black: Hikaru Nakamura
WhiteElo: 2812
BlackElo: 2789

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 Ng4 8. Bg5 f6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh6 11. c5 g4 12. Nh4 Nc6 13. cxd6 cxd6 14. dxe5 dxe5 15. Bc4+ Kh8 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. O-O Nd4 18. Rad1 Be6 19. Bxe6 Nxe6 20. f3 gxf3 21. gxf3 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Rd8 23. Rxd8+ Nxd8 24. Bf2 a6 25. Kf1 Kg8 26. Ke2 Kf7 27. Be3 Ke6 28. Na4 Bf8 29. Bxh6 Bxh6 30. Nc5+ Kf7 31. Kd3 Bf4 32. h3 Bg5 33. Nf5 Ne6 34. Nxe6 Kxe6 35. Kc4 b6 36. a4 Bd2 37. b3 h5 38. b4 a5 39. bxa5 bxa5 40. Kb5 Kd7 41. Ng7 h4 42. Nf5 Be1 43. Ne3 Ke6 44. Nc4 1-0

Van Wely v Giri

Site: Wijk aan Zee
Date: January 13
Result: 1/2-1/2
White: Loek van Wely
Black: Anish Giri
WhiteElo: 2672
BlackElo: 2734

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. c3 d6 6. Bd3 e5 7. Ne2 Qd8 8. O-O Be7 9. f4 O-O 10. Nd2 exd4 11. Nxd4 Re8 12. Qh5 Nd7 13. Bc4 Rf8 14. e5 Nb6 15. Bb3 c5 16. exd6 cxd4
17. dxe7 Qxe7 18. Rae1 Qd8 19. Ne4 dxc3 20. f5 Qd4+ 21. Kh1 cxb2 22. f6 Be6 23. fxg7 Qxg7 24. Rf3 Rac8 25. Rg3 Qxg3 26. hxg3 Rc1 27. Bd1 b1=Q 28. Qxh6 Nd5 29. Qg5+ Kh8 30. Qh6+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

Last week’s chess solution
h4 if Qf6 Nd5 or if Qg4 Qxe7+ mates

Zhu Chen v Weida Zhang, Beijing, 1997

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