By Marlon Munroe
President of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) Errol Tiwari claims that Guyana should regain its accreditation with the world governing body Federation Intern-ationale des Echecs (FIDE) by year end.
Tiwari, in an invited comment said yesterday that for this to become a reality, the GCF has to pay a fee but he was unable to give the figure at the time.
Both Tiwari and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, had indicated their desire to have Guyana re-admitted into the FIDE family this year.
At the closing ceremony of last year’s national Chess championships, Dr. Anthony had said he wanted Guyana to be re-admitted to FIDE as early as possible and had suggested that the GCF link up with other Caribbean member territories in an effort to have the local players get some type of international exposure.
Tiwari, who was re-elected president of the GCF earlier this year told this newspaper following the elections that rejoining FIDE was a priority for the GCF. He had stated at the time that Guyana owed FIDE some 20 years of dues.
“I have written to the president (Kirsan Ilyumzhinov) asking him to let us know how much (money) we owe them,” he had told Stabroek Sport.
Yesterday Tiwari reported that FIDE had enquired about aspects of the federation’s constitution, updates on the work done to resuscitate the sport and the number of players involved in the sport locally.
Reflecting on the achievements for the year, he said that the GCF, in his opinion, had succeeded with its initial plan of a wider outreach to schools thereby increasing the game’s popularity.
Rainer Buhmann, one of Germany’s top 10 grandmasters, visited Guyana earlier in the year and conducted a speed chess tournament with students of selected Georgetown schools; Buhmann also made suggestions for the development of the sport.
On the heels of this visit, Guyana participated in the inaugural Inter-Guiana Games gaining a silver medal.
Tiwari, who is still active, echoed the sentiments of Dr. Anthony at the just-concluded national schools’ chess championships when he said that the sport has to be revitalized at the school level.
According to Tiwari, his association will be pushing its mandate in the new year in partnership with the ministry of sport. Asked to compare the standard of chess a number of years back to now, Tiwari said it was difficult to compare because back then the players had more international exposure.
Back then, Tiwari said, the game was played only by a privileged few and there were better results.
His goal, he declared, was to make almost every student learn the game.
Tiwari recalled the 1978 and 1980 Chess Olympiads held in Buenos Aries, Argentina and Malta respectively referring to the exploits of Maurice and Gordon Broomes, Edan Warsali, John Macedo and Ronald Austin which helped to raise Guyana’s ranking among Caribbean countries.
Tiwari stated that while the association enjoyed some success over the past year, its biggest challenge was the outreach programme to schools.
He revealed that owing to the geographic makeup of Guyana, it has been difficult to effectively run that programme but opined that the GCF gained a minor victory with the taking of the game to Essequibo.
Tiwari confirmed that the GCF will also be extending their programme to cater for teachers who will in turn impart knowledge to their students.
