By Iva Wharton
President of the Guyana Chess Federation Shiv Nandalall says he is heartened by the progress shown by young chess players.
Delivering an address at the awards ceremony of the GCF last Friday at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) building on High Street, Nandalall said that the number of junior players who qualifiedand participated in the 2011 Geddes Grant/Seven Seas senior national championship was the high point of the year for the GCF.
Four of the eight players who were awarded for their performance in the senior chess championship last November were juniors.
The four were Anthony Drayton, Saeed Ali, Rashad Hussain and Haifeng Su.
“They ended up in the senior category because of their performance. They, basically, edged past the senior players in the qualifying tournament and went on to challenge the national champion for the title,” he remarked.
Despite this, Nandalall said there was more room for improvement.
“Chess is a game that calls for a lot of focus, research and practice and if the juniors follow that road they will become very strong players,” he opined.
He added that in strong chess playing countries the juniors are a force to be reckoned with at the national level and said that was what the GCF was hoping to achieve.
“And I will pay much attention to the young players because they are the ones who I believe will take the stage in the future,” he declared.
Receiving awards Friday were national junior and senior champions Su and Taffin Khan respectively while others receive trophies were; Anthony Drayton, Saeed Ali, Rashad Hussain, Maria Thomas, Frankie Farley and Glenford Corlette.
Thomas, the lone female participant in the senior category, also copped the second place trophy.
Khan retained his title, losing only to Thomas while drawing with Drayton.
Khan ended on 12.5 points out of a possible 14 while Thomas ended 1ith 10 points.
Farley was third with eight points and Corlette, fourth with seven and a half points.
In the 2011 Sasha cells junior championships, Su and Cecil Cox took part in a play-off to decide the eventual winner in October last year after both players were tied with the same number of points. Su won the title at the end of the playoff, taking over from 2010 champion Ron Motilall.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, congratulated the winners and called on everyone to ensure that chess remains active.
He noted the resurgence of the sport over the past few years and challenged the GCF to make efforts to establish its own playing centre. Dr. Anthony also lauded the GCF for holding regular elections.
