The first round of the ten round qualification tournament for the National Chess Championships was played last evening and continues today at the Kei-Shar’s Sports Complex. Eight persons will go forward to the Nationals from among the juniors, and seven from the seniors.
The competition from both categories would be fierce, and the tournament promises to be the most rigorous we have seen so far for 2009. The upcoming National Championships is a closed door, double round-robin event featuring the finest players in the country.
Last year, the senior qualification tournament was won by Ronuel Greenidge. In the Nationals, he tied with Kriskal Persaud for first but lost the championship on the tie-break system. Greenidge has since been inactive on the local tournament circuit, preferring to train with Fritz 11, the most advanced computer training programme in the world. Players caught a glimpse of him during grandmaster Rainer Buhmann’s visit to Guyana, when he appeared to play in the simultaneous exhibition at the Umana Yana.
Kriskal Persaud, on the other hand, has been participating in some tournaments, and has been doing well.
The tournament circuit, however, has been dominated by Wendell Muesa who takes pride in appearing for his games with his entire family. The Muesas are now a welcome fixture at tournaments. Kriskal insists that he does not play chess in Berbice, and yet he defeats the strong players in tournaments. I happen to know his brothers are solid players, but they prefer not to participate in tournaments. We are still hopeful that they would step forward in due course.
For the juniors, it is difficult to find a winner. Last year, Taffin Khan took the qualification tournament in fine style and went on to win the Nationals without dropping a game. Earlier this year, he joined the seniors and has done well so far. No one has emerged as Taffin did last year, and no junior is as prolific as Taffin was last year. He is one of the favoured players to win the Senior Championship this year.
Good luck to all the players today!
Pham v Huang
China won the World Women’s Team Championship half a point ahead of Russia and 1.5 points ahead of chess powerhouse, the Ukraine, which took the bronze medal. The championship took place in Yinzhou, China, from September 2 -11.The time controls were 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with a 30 second increment per move. In the final round China met Vietnam and drew 2—2 on the four playing boards.
Pham Bich Ngoc (2145) – Huang Qian (2424) 2nd WTeam w Ningbo CHN (9), 11.9.2009
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nc3 Nb6 8.d3 c6 9.Be3 h6 10.Qd2 Kh7 11.Rac1 N8d7 12.b4 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qc2 e5 15.Qc7 d4 16.Bd2 Nb6 17.Qxd8 Rxd8 18.Rc5 f6 19.Nh4 f5 20.f4 exf4 21.gxf4 Re8 22.Kf2 Re7 23.Rg1 Be6 24.Bh3 Bf7 25.Bxf5 gxf5 26.Nxf5 Bf6 27.Nxe7 Bxe7 28.Rc7 Nd5 29.Rxb7 Be6 30.e4 dxe3+ 31.Bxe3 Bc8 32.Bd4 h5 33.Rxe7+ Nxe7 34.Rg7+ Kh6 35.Rxe7 a6 36.Re8 Kg6
And now, three pawns up and with a decisive attack the Vietnamese girl played 37.Bc5 and offered a draw, which her Chinese opponent naturally accepted. With all games in this encounter drawn China One was able to nudge ahead of Russia (and Ukraine) to take first place.
