The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) has officially selected their 10-member roster which will compete at the 44th International Chess Federation (FIDE) Olympiad in Chennai, India, from July 28 to August 10.
This was confirmed by a release from the organization. In the Open Category, Guyana will be represented by Candidate Master (CM) Taffin Khan, FIDE Master (FM) Anthony Drayton, CM Wendell Meusa, Roberto Neto, and Loris Nathoo. Meusa is the reigning National Champion, a feat he has repeated seven times.
In the women’s pool, the youthful outfit will be represented by 18-year-old Sasha Shariff, 14-year-old Pooja Lam, 12-year-old Anaya Lall, 20-year-old Jessica Callender, and 21-year-old Nellisha Johnson.
“From the women’s team, only Sasha Shariff and Johnson have experience competing at an Olympiad tournament while Callender has only competed in Online Olympiads. Lam is the reigning National Women’s Champion and the country’s youngest National women’s champion since the tournament first began in 2014,” the release stated.
Further, “Lall is the first chess player with a disability to ever travel to represent Guyana on a national team. The hearing-impaired chess player was also Guyana’s first chess player with a disability to represent Guyana in an International Competition last year when she competed virtually in the World Chess Championship for People with Disabilities.”
The team will be accompanied by team captain, Davion Mars, and Head of Delegation, Jaishree Lam. The roster is pencilled to commence training as part of their preparatory phase with Grand Master Georg Mohr, and International Master Atanu Lahiri.
Guyana’s first appearance in the Chess Olympiad was during the 1970s. However, a 36-year absence would unfold before the team’s next participation in 2014 in Norway. Since then, Guyana has featured in every edition.
