Guyana’s national chess team, competing at the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway lost their opening two matches by 0-4 scores to Albania and Kyrgyzstan.
Playing on Saturday against Albania in the team’s opening encounter the Guyanese lost 0-4 with Anthony Drayton (1828) losing to Grandmaster Erald Dervishi (2581) on board one, Ronuel Greenidge (1630) losing to international master Dritan Mehmeti on board two.
Haifeng Su (1734) and Maria Varona Thomas (1777) were also on the losing end to Franc Ashiku (2284) and Llambi Pasku (2061).
Yesterday the team lost to Kyrgyzstan with Drayton losing to Semetev Tologontegin (2354); Greenidge losing to Asyl Abdyiapar (2368) Su losing to B. Takyrbashev (2229) and Varona Thomas losing to Alexandr Mamontov (2106).
The team which departed last Wednesday is without top player Taffin Khan who denied a visa by the Dutch Embassy since the Taffin Khan is on a terrorist watch list.
The name also matches his date of birth and though the Guyana Chess Federation requested and was granted a review, Khan did not receive the visa.
Meanwhile in a press release, the GCF said it would like to express a heartfelt thank the sponsors who made this trip possible including
Office of the President, Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company Ltd., National Sports Commission, Caribbean Containers Inc., Toolsie Persaud Limited, Oasis Café and Café Bean.
