A formidable, successful year for the Guyana Chess Federation

A Berbice business entity, A. Ally and Sons, is sponsoring a one-day Rapid tournament for chess players throughout the country next Sunday in New Amsterdam. While participation can come from all or any of the ten regions, Berbicians would be at an advantage in terms of participation. The GCF will be administering the tournament, and we are hoping that schools in Berbice would ensure their players were adequately represented. The format for the tournament is a swiss system event (winners play winners and losers play losers), with fifteen minutes per player per game. The tournament will begin at 10 am promptly on Sunday, at the Town Hall in New Amsterdam, and conclude about 6pm following the presentation of prizes to the winners.

On Sunday last, the Guyana Chess Federation held its Annual General Meeting to elect office-bearers for the period 2010-2011. Errol Tiwari was re-elected President of the organization. The President presented a report outlining the activities which occurred last year; an edited version of the highlights is given hereunder.

The year 2009 was a formidable, but successful one for the Guyana Chess Federation. We encountered some challenges which we overcame, and concluded the year on a positive note.

We began the year brightly with a tournament sponsored by Demerara Distillers Limited for both junior and senior chess players. The stream of tournaments continued until the National Schools’ Championship in December. We hosted a total of ten tournaments for the year, and all were keenly contested. Some proved to be more rigorous than others, but the fighting spirit was ever evident. One of these was the National Qualification Tournament from which came the contestants for the National Championships. A few of the favourites who were tipped to go forward, were unceremoniously erased from the tournament following some convincing victories by their opponents. Those that qualified went straight into the Nationals.

The National Schools’ Championship was a huge success, principally because more schools participated in the championship than the previous year. It was an awesome sight simply to observe schools from as far away as Bartica, Linden and Berbice competing for honours and distinction under one roof. It was a wonderful two days for the game of chess in Guyana.

In April of last year, a grandmaster from Germany visited Guyana. The visit was initiated by the World Chess Federation. The Guyana Chess Federation provided the local amenities for the grandmaster. A number of players were given the opportunity to compete with the grandmaster over the chess board, and had their questions answered in an enlightening question and answer session. The grandmaster informed us that his visit was conceived and put into effect, in recognition of the work which was being carried out in relation to chess in Guyana.

The Guyana Chess Federation was successful in fielding a team for the Inter-Guiana Games which was held in Paramaribo. Chess had not been played at the games for two decades.  Guyana  made a proposal for chess to be a part of the games, and was victorious in its effort to have it as an additional discipline. Hence we were given a glorious opportunity to expose our juniors to international competition.

Guyana became an accredited member of the FIDE family of nations, the World Chess Organization that is 153-nation strong.

During December, the Federation held a Fun Day and Chess Fair with the intention of raising funds to carry out its work. Rain spoilt the show, and disappointingly diminished the amounts which we were anticipating to receive from the event. Nevertheless, we were grateful to work with what we obtained to fulfil some of our requirements.

The executive body of the Federation worked diligently last year to maintain the visibility of chess. This we could not have done without the support of our members. Every kind word that you say about chess gives us the strength to persevere and the inspiration to carry on. We do it not for money but for an innate love of the game. In many instances, we utilise personal funds to facilitate the advancement of chess locally. We are all together in this continued struggle to lift the game to great heights. One day we will hand over the baton to you to continue where we left off.

Finally, I wish to say thank you to all our sponsors who stood firmly beside us during 2009. Without their tangible commitment, chess could not have made so many quick strides on the road to recognition and development. We cherished their support.

Ivanchuk v Gelfand

The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament ended in victory for Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen. Ivanchuk caught up with the leader of the tournament, Carlsen, with an impressive 1½-½ victory over the Israeli grandmaster, Boris Gelfand. Ivanchuk won his Rapid game against Gelfand and drew the Blindfold one with him.  In the latter game, Ivanchuk presented Gelfand with a novelty in an exchange sacrifice, and the game was played to a draw.

Gelfand is the only grandmaster to participate in the Amber Tournament all nineteen times that it has been held. It means

Ivanchuk has been a member of the world’s chess elite for over twenty years.

Ivanchuk, V (2748) – Gelfand, B (2750) 19th Amber Rapid Nice FRA (11), 25.3.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Re8 10.h4 c6 11.Kb1 Qa5 12.h5 h6 13.Bd3 Bf8 14.g4 Nf6 15.g5 Be6 16.a3 Ng4 17.gxh6 Qd5 18.Qe2 Qa2+ 19.Kc1 Qa1+ 20.Kd2 Qxb2

21.Rdg1. Now all of White’s pieces are aimed at the black king. 21…Bd7 22.Rxg4 Bxg4 23.Ng5 Be6 24.Bd4 Qa2 25.Rg1 c5 26.Bh7+ Kh8 27.hxg7+ Bxg7 28.Nxf7+ Bxf7 29.Bxg7+ Kxh7 30.Qd3+ Kg8 31.Bf6+ Kf8 32.Qxd6+ Black Resigns!  1-0.