For the first time Guyana will host the Carifta junior chess championship from April 10-13 at the Ramada Princess Hotel, Providence East Bank Demerara.
According to President of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) Frankie Farley, preparation for the historic tournament is coming along great. Farley described the body working on the project as an excellent group of people headed by John Lee who he says has significant management experience.
“We are working around the clock to make sure everything is in place since we anticipate this to be the largest ever Carifta championships in the nine-year history of the competition,” Farley stated.
Farley predicted that around 13 to 16 countries will participate in the event but expressed concerns over the date being close to the General Elections and posited that should there be any disturbances following the elections, the tournament stands a chance of being affected.
The tournament will be played in the Under-20, U18, U16, U14, U12 and U8 divisions and will be contested through a seven-round Swiss System format. Kelvin Daniel out of Barbados has been named the Chief Arbiter. Teams are set to arrive on April 9 and depart on April 13.
According to former president of the Guyana Chess Federation Irshad Mohammed, This is the first international tournament to be held here since Guyana hosted the fifth Umada Cup in 2014.
Mohammed said that since the Carifta chess competition began some nine years ago Guyana has participated at two previous tournaments in Suriname in April of 2018 and in Curacao last year where they placed fifth out of 10 countries.
