Dear Editor,
I recently learnt that a junior chess team was sent to Suriname for a tournament in that country by the Guyana Chess Federation which is headed by Mr James Bond. I have been informed that all the selected players came from or around Georgetown. If this is true then it smacks of discrimination against players from rural areas like Berbice.
My sons, Marley and Darwin London aged seventeen and sixteen respectively, are prominent in the game of chess here in Berbice, with the youngest, Darwin, winning the Individual regional Schools tournament six years in a row; that is to say from the age of ten he has been the champion. Darwin caught the eye of the Sunday Stabroek Chess Columnist, Mr Errol Tiwari and was featured or mentioned in his column on no less than five occasions over the years, and has been identified as a special talent who should be groomed.
Darwin’s playing of the game has been described as beautiful to watch due to the flowing lines he employs and his sound strategizing.
Marley is almost as prolific, but he plays chess for his school team and has been instrumental in helping his team achieve the status of a chess powerhouse in Berbice. These are facts that can be easily checked by reviewing Mr Tiwari’s past columns.
My question is, if these two youngsters are to develop and help put our country’s name on the chess map, why aren’t they getting the exposure to competition that they deserve so much?
I taught them the game and I consider myself an ‘ok’ player (I am being a bit modest here), yet I rarely draw a game with these two strategists, and that speaks volumes for their competence.
We need to have my sons notified of competitions (the Guyana Chess Federation’s Coordinator for Berbice, Mr Krish Raghunandan, has our telephone numbers) so they can have the exposure they deserve in order to develop their game further, though I sense that they may develop other players also.
Chess is not only played in Georgetown.
Yours faithfully,
John London
