Chess with Errol

“Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do; strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.”

“[Chess] makes man wiser and far-sighted.” – Vladimir Putin, during the 2001 World Championship knockout in Moscow, as quoted in Chess Base.

There is some sort of expectation that the top finishers of the National Chess Championship would be guaranteed a place on the Guyana team for the spectacular biennial 2018 Chess Olympiad in September.

The policy implemented by the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) of hosting a preliminary qualifying tournament to determine the participants for the 2018 National Chess Championship is admirable.

Countries and governments vary vastly in size and ‘weight’… That does not mean that the biggest, meanest countries always get their way: their huge resources may not be easy to apply on the scale that counts.

One of the things that first attracted me to chess is that it brings you into contact with intelligent, civilized people – men of the stature of Garry Kasparov, the former world champion, who was my part-time coach.

India’s chess superstar Viswanathan Anand, Holland’s Anish Giri, Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and the US’s Wesley So are co-leaders in the exclusive Masters category of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament ongoing in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, after five rounds of the 13-game competition.

2017 was a great year for world chess. The column highlighted whatever was of importance in chess locally and internationally.

Chess grandmasters Viswanathan Anand and Ju Wenjun, and Magnus Carlsen and Nana Dzagnidze completed 2017 in fine style as they won the World Rapid Championships and the World Blitz Championships.

Guyana’s chess for 2017 has both been invigorating and disappointing. On the positive side, the Berbice Chess Association was established, an overture was made to the Georgetown Prison, Guyana was represented at an important World Chess Federation (FIDE) overseas meeting, the Berbice Inter-Schools Chess Championship was held and Guyana won the inaugural Caribbean Chess Cup.

“Dear God,” she prayed, “let me be something every minute of every hour of my life.”

Garry Kasparov, a previous world chess champion, has documented his insights into his 1997 match with the IBM computer Deep Blue.

The world’s number three chess player, American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, unfastened the deadlock of draws which had been plaguing the London Chess Classic for an interminable three rounds.

The eight participants for the 2018 Candidates Chess Tournament have been decided.

Chess is associated with reason and intelligence. It is bonded to logic and order. When chess is described as a violent game, it is done so artistically. We

I share the belief that chess is becoming essentially popular among youths in developing nations. It

  “Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark; professionals built the Titanic.”

Ever since the 1960s, the Candidates chess matches and subsequently the chess tournaments, have been recognized as definitive and contentious battles.

The recent Berbice Inter-Schools Chess Championship coincided with the first Jamaican International Chess Festival.

Chess is a catalyst for social development in communities that are underserved.