Mr de Caires has died and we in the local chess fraternity are saddened at his passing. Chess has lost a dear and cherished friend. He loved this ancient game for all its complexities and for its rich history. Whenever we chatted, inevitably he would become excited as we spoke of Fischer and Capablanca and Spassky and Kasparov.
Mr de Caires respected chess, and chess players generally. He learnt to play the game at school, and felt that it was critical to instilling discipline among the young in a progressive society. Perhaps for this reason, he felt impelled to use his newspaper as a driving mechanism to promote the game countrywide. Undisputedly, he has been kind to the game.
He was particularly pleased with the efforts currently being made by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to popularize the game in schools, and would say over and over to me: “Errol, if there is anything I can do to seriously assist in promoting the game among our children and our teenagers, please let me know.” Just as he finished saying that, he would continue, “Chess is not just a game you know. It is life.” He liked to remind me that a great passion of Dr Henry Kissinger, former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State in the Nixon administration, and a man who greatly influenced international politics, was chess.
It was Dr Kissinger, following months of discouraging negotiations relating to the Fischer/Spassky 1972 world championship match, and Fischer’s threats to withdraw from the match, who found the one element that set fire to the heart of Fischer: pride. Following his conversations with Kissinger, Fischer became energized and announced that he would play for America and the world.
I last saw Mr de Caires some time ago on Robb Street, as he was about to enter his car. Surprisingly, he recalled in conversation that I had given him a copy of Ben Bradlee’s A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures some years ago, and thanked me for it. Apparently, he enjoyed reading Bradlee, who was the former Executive Editor of the Washington Post, and whose two famous reporters were Woodward and Bernstein. We spoke a bit about chess and then went our separate ways.
Chess has lost an ardent disciple, someone who loved the game dearly, someone who believed the game should be popularized and brought to the doorsteps of young people’s homes. The Guyana Chess Federation wishes to extend its condolences to Mrs de Caires and her family.
The National Chess Championships have begun, and will be played today on the roof of the King’s Plaza Hotel in Main Street. Two rounds are to be contested at 10 am and 3 pm. The public is invited to view the games.
Nakamura v Ivanchuk
US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura won the 8th Cap d’Agde Rapid Chess Tournament recently. Sixteen known international players, including former world champion Anatoly Karpov, played in two groups with Ivanchuk and Nakamura reaching the finals. Here is the final game in which Nakamura prevailed.
Nakamura, Hikaru (2704) – Ivanchuk, Vassily (2786)
Trophee CCAS FRA Finale Cap d’Agde FRA (14.2), 1.11.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.Bf4 d5 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Rfc1 c5 12.Qa4 Bb7 13.Ne5 cxd4 14.cxd5 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Bxd5 16.Qxd4 Bc5 17.Bxf6 Bxd4 18.Bxd8 Rfxd8 19.Bxd5 Rxd5 20.Rc2 Rad8 21.Rac1 h6 22.Nf3 Bf6 23.e4 R5d7 24.b3 g5 25.h3 Kg7 26.Kf1 Bd4 27.b4 Bf6 28.Ke2 h5 29.g4 hxg4 30.hxg4 Be7 31.a3 a5 32.bxa5 bxa5 33.a4 Bd6 34.Rd1 Be7 35.Rxd7 Rxd7 36.Ne5 Rd4 37.Rc4
At this point Black decides to trade rooks and finds himself in an endgame that Nakamura wins convincingly: 37…Rxc4 38.Nxc4 Bb4 39.Ne5 Bc3 40.Nc6 f5 41.Kd3 Be1 42.f3 Kf6 43.Kc4 fxe4 44.fxe4 Bd2 45.e5+ Kf7 46.Kc5 Ke8 47.Kd6 Kf7 48.Nd8+ Ke8 49.Nxe6 Bb4+ 50.Kd5 Bd2 51.Ke4 Ke7 Black Resigns! 1-0.
