The qualifier for the National Chess Championship begins today starting at 10.00 am at the Racquet Centre, Woolford Avenue, opposite the Government Technical Institute. It is a 7-round tournament with 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment on the clock per player per game. Two games are to be played today. The tournament fee is $2,000 per player.
Most of the seasoned chess players are expected to be present for the tournament, in addition to the juniors, especially the promising ones. According to the Guyana Chess Federation, 7 participants will be selected to contest the final of the National Championship. They will join last year’s champ Wendell Meusa in an exclusive grand finale. The final act of the Championship will be a round-robin test, with the winner being declared national champion.
It is obvious that being one of the qualifiers would be an exacting task. My favourites for the qualifying process, based on their successes in previous competitions, are Anthony Drayton, Taffin Khan, Loris Nathoo, Glenford Corlette, Maria Varona-Thomas, perhaps Davion Mars and Roberto Neto. Although Andre Jagnandan won three junior tournaments for 2019, it is not clear what his standard of play would be in the senior category.
