Executive members of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) have acknowledged that no formal correspondence was given to national chess champion Wendell Meusa notifying him of the commencement of a six-month suspension order against him.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport last week, both President of the GCF, Errol Tiwari, and Secretary, Vishnu Rampersaud, acknowledged that only a warning letter was given to Meusa.
This, they conceded, was given to him on May 7 this year by Tiwari, during the Keishar’s/FIDE Qualifiers.
“We came to that decision [to suspend Meusa] at a meeting, it is in our minutes, and that letter had to be penned after that meeting. It was given to him by Mr. Tiwari on behalf of the federation,” Rampersaud said.
Meusa said that on May 6 while registering for the Keishar’s/FIDE Qualifiers, he was told by the GCF Treasurer, Shiv Nandalall, that he could not compete because the GCF had come to a decision to suspend him for allegations he had made against the GCF.
However, according to Meusa, he had argued that he could not be suspended as he had never been informed.
Members of the GCF subsequently agreed and Meusa was allowed to take part in the tournament.
He was furnished with the warning letter the following day.
In light of the suspension, Meusa is prevented from participating in the current national championships.
Rampersaud said he does not know if the 2010 champion will have to battle Meusa to substantiate his accolade, but he affirmed that Meusa has not been stripped of his 2009 championship title.
And, despite winning the Keishar’s/FIDE Qualifiers Meusa was not allowed to participate in the FIDE World Rating Tournament held in July.
In Sunday Stabroek in his column “Chess with Errol Tiwari”, the GCF president stated that “he [Meusa] did not qualify to represent Guyana because he is already FIDE-rated.”
He did not mention the suspension.
Meusa’s suspension stemmed from a conflict which arose in March this year when he accused the GCF of being in violation of the rules governing chess matches.
Meusa claimed that drinking, smoking and other disturbances occurred during tournaments and he also spoke of an unfair process of who plays with the white pieces.
The GCF has since refuted the claims made by Meusa, and in the warning letter seen by Stabroek Sport, Meusa was informed that he had until June 6 in which to “either prove the allegations or issue an apology.”
The letter also stated that “failing which you [Meusa] would be suspended from participating in any chess tournament sanctioned by the Federation for a period of six months.”
Meusa is saying that he is unaware when the suspension began or when it will finish since he had received no follow-up correspondence from the Federation on the matter.
However, Rampersaud said that the suspension began on the June 6 date set out in the letter and he also stated that the world governing body, the World Chess Federation (FIDE), had been duly notified by means of an e-mail.
Moreover, Tiwari stated that to his understanding Meusa’s suspension began in June and ends in December. Tiwari noted that while he could not remember the exact date it does not matter as the GCF will not be having anymore tournaments for the year.
He then directed further probes to Nandalall but when contacted Nandalall indicated that he was only the Treasurer of the Federation and could not understand why Tiwari directed things to him. He stated that he would have to speak with Tiwari before he could divulge any information.
