Teachers from around Guyana introduced to chess
With Errol Tiwari
The newly established Guyana Chess Federation scored an imperceptible victory last week towards the promotion of the ancient board game when it lectured to teachers from 16 sporting districts throughout the country.
They came from schools in the North West, Essequibo Coast, Wakenaam, Leguan, Berbice, Linden, Kwakwani, the East Coast, West Demerara and Georgetown. The majority had never experienced chess before, but if I read the temper of their curiosities correctly, they were thrilled at the realization that they were being introduced to the game.
The school teachers were attending the Guyana Teachers Union’s First Biennial Sports Conference, and the Federation was invited to deliver a lecture about the mind game, chess. Although our time allotment was severely inadequate, we worked diligently to demonstrate how the pieces moved on the chessboard and the manner in which the clock works. Our team replayed a game from notation that was first played in Paris 1700. By doing so, we were able to fire the enthusiasm of our audience, and they were able to grasp the elementary aspects of the wonderful game called chess.
As recent as last year, we only dreamed of reaching audiences scattered in the remote parts of Guyana. But I have always felt, it is good to dream. The French novelist Anatole France wrote that “to accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.” Today, the teachers whom we met last week, who were stimulated by the game and who emphatically expressed an interest to learn more, are on the right side of change. Each of the teachers who listened to our lecture can be pioneers for chess in their respective locations. We expect them to be great pioneers, and we will encourage them to be so.
Some may say it’s just a dream. But we know differently. We know it is good to dream.
I told my attentive audience that in theory, anyone can learn to play chess in half an hour. But this is not the challenge. The challenge is moving beyond the initial level and going deeper into the game. Only then would we locate the prism of talent, which is lanquishing around us. We have to pass the broom of chess around the remotest corners of Guyana if our search for grandmasters is to bear fruit. And herein lies the importance of our teachers. What they can do for the Federation, what they can do for their country, should never be underestimated and should be supported.
Abraham Lincoln began his famous “House Divided” speech in 1858 with a brilliant observation: “If we could first know where we are going and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it”. We know where we are going. And we know where we are. We also know, we are going to get there.
Since the sparkling new bell of chess was first sounded a year ago, Dr Frank Anthony and Neil Kumar have been stalwarts for the promotion of the game throughout Guyana. Their ministry imported a large number of chess sets, which have been distributed to schools and this year there is an intention to make additional sets, clocks and demonstration boards available for use in schools and by the Federation. This bold step, and creatively intelligent move by the ministry, has energized us, and suffused us with new confidence and inspiration. Undoubtedly, as the theme song for the comedy show “The Jeffersons” tells us, “we are moving on up”.
The Federation wishes to thank the Guyana Teachers Union, and especially its sports secretary Ms. Colleen Liddell, for inviting us to lecture on chess to teachers. They were a disciplined, attentive and intelligent audience. We look forward to meeting with them again.
