The executive committee of the new Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) has approved the contents of a Grand Prix (GP) arrangement making it possible for the first in a series of six chess tournaments to be held from this weekend.
The first GP tournament began yesterday and continues today at the National Resource Centre, Woolford Avenue. The GP series was initiated by national chess player Loris Nathoo and leads to the selection of the 2020 Olympiad team. It is structured to embrace transparency by cementing the idea that only the finest chess players will be allowed the opportunity of representing Guyana at the international 2020 Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
More than the transparency aspect, it is envisaged that chess players who had not moved a pawn in months would be tempted to do so now. The GP is tied to a points system. The more points a player obtains during the 2019-2020 series, the more chances that player has of qualifying for the Olympiad. The system also encourages frequent play among local chess enthusiasts. Gone are the days when representatives for the Olympiad were selected either through a single tournament or performance in a previous one-year-old tournament. Currently, it’s either you play, or you are out.
Nathoo felt it was necessary to consider a pre-qualification system that would guarantee sending the best players to the 2020 chess Olympiad. He gave the following statistics, showing a marked improvement at the last Olympiad:
Guyana has 35 players on the World Chess Federation (FIDE) rating list. The FIDE list determines one’s strength in the Olympiad arena. The higher one is rated, the higher one’s chance of excelling in international tournaments.
Guyana’s highest-rated, active player is Anthony Drayton who is somewhere close to 2000 points, give or take a few. A grandmaster is rated somewhere around 2600 points and above. The argument is Guyana is obligated to increase its numbers if it does not want to allow chess to be meandered among a designated few established players. And that is what the GP system is setting out to do. The more competitive chess players a country possesses, the better its chances of producing an international champion.
Nathoo also bolstered his argument with the following breakdown of chess in the Caricom region:
Chess puzzle
Jinshi Bai vs Murad Nuri, Kocaeli, 2013.
White to play and win
The wrong diagram was published last week. We regret the error.
