Rose Hall town’s Kriskal Persaud, a former national junior and senior chess champion, looks tentatively at the chess board in his first game of the Umada Cup. Persaud is standing aloof from the board as his Surinamese opponent, Malgie Avikaar, uses his allotted time lavishly, thinking and thinking. The move is different from the one which Persaud anticipated. There must be an opening here, he told me after the game. In haste, Persaud makes his way back to the playing table, consciously searching for the flaw which he felt existed, following his opponent’s previous move. He found it, and in glee, began an eloquent combination which aimed at bringing down his competitor. He was successful. In game two, Kriskal took down local Candidate Master Anthony Drayton. Before the beginning of his game with Drayton, I advised Persaud to be careful, as Drayton had played in Norway at the celebrated Olympiad. Persaud’s response was direct and stinging: “Me na care whey he play. He gat to play now.”
Earlier, just before the start of the Drayton game, Persaud told me that he questioned the erroneous newspaper report which stated that Drayton had lost his first game. He informed Drayton about this error, which got Drayton visibly upset and he subsequently went on to lose his game against him. In game three, Persaud outplayed the Trinidadian Candidate Master Esan Wiltshire, the subsequent winner of the Challenger’s section of the Umada Cup.
Keith Simpson is wearing a fashionable pair of white reading glasses as he is drawn to oppose Aditi Soondarsingh of Trinidad and Tobago. It is early in the opening phases of the game when Simpson’s cell phone rings. A collective gasp emanates from the players. Simpson is tumbling furiously within his bag for the phone to the amusement of the other players. Aditi woodenly signs her score sheet and circles a win for Black, her playing colour. The game is over.
Apparently, Persaud was not aware that a prize fund (US$ 16, 000) had been set up for the tournament. When he was so informed, Persaudl became dangerous. In a competition of this nature and scope, it is unlikely that anyone will score one win after another. But Persaud scored three wins, one after the other, against his higher ranked overseas and local competitors. He eventually faltered, because as you win, you encounter much tougher competition. Anyway, Persaud placed second as the Under-1700 prize-winner of the tournament.
Trinidadian Fide Master Ryan Harper won the Open Section of the Umada Cup. Former national champion Taffin Khan was the only participant in this section, finishing at the bottom of the points table. This year’s win was the third for Harper in a row. He won also in 2012 and 2013. Following the Guyana 2014 win, Harper gets to keep the Cup permanently.
The tournament was progressively successful. It gave the local players much desired exposure. Certainly, it would be beneficial to local chess for selected games to be published on the Guyana Chess Federation’s website. Finally, I take this opportunity to commend reporter Michael Benjamin for the continued interest and patience which he shows in seeking information for his newspaper reports on chess.
Chess games
The chess games of the 2014 Umada Cup held in Georgetown, November 27-December 1, are not as yet available. Obviously, our local chess players and the overseas participants from five Caribbean nations would love to see their own and other games from the same tournament in print. But players would appreciate the fact that before these games are published, they have to be replayed and double-checked to ensure accuracy. As an alternative, I have chosen three games from the Qatar Masters Tournament, Nov 25-Dec 5, in which 92 grandmasters are participants, or 60% of the total of 154 players. With two rounds left to play, Vladimir Kramnik, Zahar Efimenko and Anish Giri are the co-leaders in the competition.
Giri v Antipov
White: Anish Giri
Black: Mikhail Al Antipov
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 Bb4+ 10. Nd2 c5 11. a3 Bxd2+ 12. Qxd2 cxd4 13. exd4 Re8+ 14. Be3 Nf6 15. f3 Qb6 16. O-O Bd7 17. a4 a5 18. Rfc1 Rec8 19. Rc5 Qe6 20. Bf2 b6 21. Rxc8+ Rxc8 22. b3 Qc6 23. Be1 Ne8
24. Ba6 Rc7 25. Bd3 Qf6 26. Bf2 Qc6 27. Re1 Qc3 28. Qe3 Rc8 29. g4 g6 30. Qe7 Be6 31. Ba6 Rb8 32. Rxe6 fxe6 33. Qxe6+ Kf8 34. Qxd5 Qc7 35. Bc4 Nf6 36. Qg5 Qe7 37. Qf4 1-0.
Efimenko v Grandelius
White: Zahar Efimenko
Black: Nils Grandelius
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. g3 Nc6 7. Nde2 b6 8. Bg2 Ba6 9. O-O Bg7 10. Re1 Rc8 11. Nd5 Nd7 12. Rb1 O-O 13. Be3 e6 14. Ndf4 Nf6 15. c3 Ne5 16. f3 Bb7 17. Nd3 Ned7 18. b3 Ne8 19. c4 d5 20. exd5 exd5 21. f4 Nef6 22. Nc3 Ne4 23. Nxe4 dxe4 24. Nf2 f5 25. Qd6 Nc5 26. Qxd8 Rfxd8 27. Rbd1 Ne6 28. Rxd8+ Rxd8 29. Rd1 Bd4 30. Bxd4 Nxd4 31. Re1 Kf8 32. Re3 Nc2 33. Re2 Nd4 34. Re3 Ne6 35. Kf1 Ke7 36. Ke1 Kf6 37. Nd1 h6 38. h4 g5 39. hxg5+ hxg5 40. fxg5+ Nxg5 41. Nc3 Ke5 42. Ne2 Ne6 43. Rc3 Bc6 44. b4 Be8 45. Bh3 Bh5 46. c5 bxc5 47. bxc5 Bxe2 48. Kxe2 Rc8 49. Ra3 Nd4+ 50. Kf1 Rxc5 51. Rxa7 Rc1+ 52. Kf2 Rc2+ 53. Kf1 Rc3 54. Ra5+ Kf6 55. Ra4 Ke5 56. Ra5+ Kf6 57. Ra4 Rd3 58. Rc4 Ke5 59. Rc5+ Kd6 60. Rc4 Kd5 61. Ra4 Rxg3 62. Bg2 Rc3 63. Ra5+ Ke6 64. Ra8 Ke5 65. a4 e3 66. Re8+Kf4 0-1.
Kramnik v Mista
White: Vladimir Kramnik
Black: Aleksander Mista
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. b3 c5 7. Bb2 b6 8. Nc3 Bb7 9. e3 dxc4 10. bxc4 Nc6 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. Nb5 Qd7 13. Rfd1 a6 14. Nc3 Qc7 15. Rac1 Rfd8 16. Ba1 Rab8 17. Na4 Ba8 18. d4 Qa7 19. Ng5 h6 20. Ne4 Nxe4 21. Bxe4 Na5 22. d5 b5 23. cxb5 axb5 24. Qg4 Bf8 25. Nxc5 f5 26. Qg6 fxe4 27. Nxe4 Ba3 28. Nf6+ Kf8 29. dxe6 Qb7 30. e4 gxf6 31. Qxf6+ Ke8 32. Qg6+ Kf8 33. Qxh6+ Ke8 34. Qh5+ 1-0.
