GTT’s Anthony Drayton avenged a recent defeat by Wendell Meusa to take the Berbice Chess Association’s one-day, rapid chess tournament last Sunday. The seven-round 20-minute-per player-per-game tournament was played at the University of Guyana’s (UG) Tain, Corentyne campus.
The Drayton-Meusa clash was inevitable as the two had succeeded in defeating each of their opponents to that point. Eventually, they clashed in what was the monumental game of the day, and Drayton came out victorious.
Davion Mars, a UG student, drew with Drayton in the final game of the day and grabbed third place behind Drayton and Meusa.
The sponsors of the tournament were the owners of the R Sookraj and Sons general store/supermarket owners and R Sookraj and Sons Outback Adventures of Goldstone Hall, Canje, Berbice, which is a family fun park and resort. Yuvindra Sookraj, a manager of Outback Adventures, said he was encouraged to sponsor the tournament because chess was becoming popular in Berbice.
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) presented two chess sets to popularise the mind game in Berbice at the conclusion of last Sunday’s tournament. Receivers of the sets were Darwin London and Dane Grimmond. London has been playing the game for over a decade and he is still a teenager. He has been tasked with promoting the game among the youth generally. Grimmond is a schoolteacher in New Amsterdam.
The effort by the GCF represents a wider initiative to promote chess in the ten regions of Guyana. The idea behind the donations of the sets is that once you make the tools available, persons may give chess a second glance. Both London and Grimmond competed in the tournament.
