“Chess is a versatile model for decision-making.” – Garry Kasparov, How Life Imitates Chess
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) took a step closer towards the inevitable recognition of the ancient game in Guyana recently by staging, successfully, the FIDE-rated tournament which sought to include our players on the world stage.
There are thousands of people in Guyana who would still stare at you blankly when you begin a conversation about chess. There are some others who would tell you they are aware of the game, but their impressions are that it is difficult to understand and still yet difficult to play. Nothing could be further from the truth. We in the GCF intend to erase this kind of thinking by carrying the game to the people, and demonstrating that anyone can play. Simultaneously, we will underline the importance of playing chess.
In many countries, students of chess in schools outperformed those who did not play and embrace the game. They developed logic, reasoning and problem-solving abilities; memory, concentration and visualization skills; critical thinking; patience and determination.
But perhaps, most important of all, young chess players show improved self-esteem and discipline, which are the critical tenets to better learning, and inevitably, for the creation of an ordered society. Parents therefore, have something concrete to influence their decisions to encourage their children to play chess.
I mention these things to emphasise that the chess federation can only facilitate the process of learning the game. We cannot decide the process. We require the committed assistance of parents and sponsors if we are to translate rhetoric into realism. We already have the guaranteed support of Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony towards the development of the game.
In fact, one chess player told me there could not be a better person for making chess possible in all its elements than Dr Anthony. Since we began, he has supported the edifice upon which we stand, and along the way has been adding a few more blocks to the structure we have built, to make us stronger and confident in what we have undertaken. Sponsors did a wonderful job of supporting the FIDE tournament, and literally made it possible.
I can tell you Guyana created an international wave with the tournament. For the first time in over twenty years, we were featured on the FIDE website and became visible to 170 nations worldwide, the total membership of the World Chess Organisation.
At the Bahamas Sub Zonal Tournament at which Guyana was represented, Barbados’ national player Dr Phillip Corbin said that he still remembers the 1975 Caribbean Team Champion-ship that was held here at the Pegasus Hotel.
He contends this remains the only team tournament that has been held in the Caribbean. But FIDE official Allan Herbert said a Team Championship was held during the eighties in Trinidad and Tobago. Corbin remembers his game well with Maurice Broomes who took him into an adjournment. Corbin felt he had a draw but he never anticipated Maurice’s e5, which brought his game and his world crashing down.
Thirty-five years later, Corbin remembers that move. At that tournament, Maurice lost only to Cuba’s Guillermo Estevez after 89 moves.
Corbin informed me that Barbados’s Paul King, who was here for the 1975 tournament, is writing a book about it, and enlisted my assistance for some photographs and published games.
The forward movement of chess in Guyana requires the support of everyone. Even if you lend a kind ear to the game, you would be making a great contribution towards its development.
