Fourteen games will be played in the National Chess Championships which begin on Saturday at the Ocean Spray Hotel. Like last year, the championships will be played in a Junior and a Senior category and promise to be a gruelling month of chess for the players.
Kriskal Persaud from the Corentyne, is the lone defending champion since Ronald Roberts, last year’s Junior champ, is ineligible to compete among the juniors. He played in the Senior category of the qualification tournament of the championships but failed to qualify. The prime favourite to win among the juniors is Taffin Khan from West Demerara.
Among the seniors, it could be anybody’s championship. The players are almost all equally strong and anything can happen. Newcomers like Dillon, Farley and Sharif can beat anyone at any given time. It is clear that almost all the participants have been practising with the computer. Kriskal, I believe, would feel the pressure as he defends his title. Certainly, the tournament favours the stamina of the younger contenders like Greenidge and Nathoo.
Each player will face his opponent twice, once with the white pieces and once with the black pieces. Each player, therefore, would have the same opportunity to win as his opponent. The tournament is a double round-robin feature for both categories of players. It is expected to be a rigorous event as all national championships are the world over.
Next Sunday, the chess action moves to the King’s Plaza Hotel on the roof, where we played last year. This is a very comfortable tournament venue, and players are expected to play some of their best games here. Two games will be played each day starting at 10 am and 3 pm. Scoring is compulsory in algebraic notation for both the juniors and seniors.
Anand v Kramnik
India’s Viswanathan Anand retained his World Chess Championship title with a fighting draw in the 11th game of his twelve-game match against Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik. Anand won 6.5 points to 4.5, thereby making the final game of the match unnecessary.
Garry Kasparov noted it was a well-played match by Anand, and except for a loss in concentration in the tenth game which he lost, he played consistently and managed to enforce his style. Kramnik’s overly defensive play he said, seemed to represent a general decline in strength.
Kasparov in an overall comment on the match said: “A great result for Anand and for chess. Vishy deserved the win in every way and I’m very happy for him. It will not be easy for the younger generation to push him aside.”
The organizers of the World Championship match provided some statistics relating to the match as follows:
1. 86% of the 3,780 tickets available for spectators were sold.
2. 427 journalists from twenty-eight countries were present.
3. 1,271,000 internet visitors were served.
4. Twenty to thirty million visitors followed the games live.
Here is the final game of the match.
Anand,V (2783) – Kramnik,V (2772)
WCh Bonn GER (11), 29.10.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.f5 Qc5 10.Qd3 Nc6 11.Nb3 Qe5 12.0-0-0 exf5 13.Qe3 Bg7 14.Rd5 Qe7 15.Qg3 Rg8 16.Qf4 fxe4 17.Nxe4 f5 18.Nxd6+ Kf8 19.Nxc8 Rxc8 20.Kb1 Qe1+ 21.Nc1 Ne7 22.Qd2 Qxd2 23.Rxd2 Bh6 24.Rf2 Be3 Draw. ½-½.
