Within recent years there has been a resuscitation of, and increased interest in chess, with many more annual tournaments sponsored and held than ever before in the history of the game in Guyana. As a result, we have discovered new and fine talent, and the standard of the game has definitely improved. -Forbes Burnham , President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the Guyana Chess Association, April 1975
Since the time, when Burnham uttered those refreshing words ‒ at least beginning from the nineties ‒ chess has been meandering casually. As if the game didn’t matter. As if all the world ‒ the US, Canada, England, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Australia, the Caribbean and the continent of Africa ‒ were all wrong , and we in Guyana were absolutely correct in miniaturizing the adventurous board game. For Burnham to have been filled with such optimism, he must have peeked through the curtains of chess and diplomacy and realized the two disciplines complemented each other. The World Chess Federation, known by its French acronym FIDE, boasts 170 countries within its fold. At the time of Burnham in 1975, the membership of the Guyana Chess Association stood at 87 members, the same number of countries within FIDE. Guyana’s number of local members has since decreased, while the FIDE number has doubled.
The Burnham Memorial Chess Tournament which began last weekend and continues today, has found chess in a somewhat weakened condition, limping along tiredly, without vitality. Up until now, an annual general meeting for 2015 has not yet been held. Constitutionally, the meeting was due on March 31. A most exacting complaint has been levelled at some persons from within the Federation. Persons are assuming certain administrative positions, and inadvertently failing to carry out the duties for which they were elected.
Anyhow, the Burnham Memorial Tournament is proceeding nicely. After three rounds, it is still anybody’s tournament. The two highest ranked players of the tournament, Anthony Drayton and Taffin Khan, drew their individual encounter. Maria Varona Thomas entered the tournament late by missing the first round. However, she remains a contender. Wendell Meusa, arguably Guyana’s strongest chess player, did not play in the tournament. Each game is contested fiercely, and had Burnham been here with us, he may have expressed satisfaction with the ‘fine talent’ he would have been witnessing.
Chess mirrors the rise and fall of mighty nations. India’s emergence to stand amongst the great nations of the world was perceived about the time Vishy Anand became world chess champion. Likewise, when the old Soviet Union disintegrated in the early nineties, Russia lost its enormous chess power at the turn of the new millennium, never to regain its importance and symbolism fifteen years later. As Nazi Germany prepared to dominate the world on the eve of World War II, the Nazi chess team with Alexander Alekhine on top board , emerged victorious at the Chess Olympiad in Argentina which was designed to determine the superiority of one nation over all others in the extraordinary mind game. Consider China also. The country’s sensational rise to the world stage has been mirrored by its ability to produce four female world chess champions in relation to Russia’s one. This trend of chess-as-looking-glass, perhaps, holds true.
For individual nations, the question of whether to include chess in the schools curricula, is a major policy decision. It is a relatively new concept.
Taking into consideration Burnham’s respect for the game, the chances are he may have considered the idea of introducing the game into schools.
But as we are aware, he would have contemplated the substantial obstacles that stood in the way of his desires, like the limited resources of the local economy.
The Forbes Burnham Memorial Chess Tournament comes to an end this afternoon at the Racquet Club on Woolford Avenue.
Chess puzzle
Hikuru Nakamura vs Pavol Hanko, Bled, 2001.
White to play and win .
Solution to chess puzzle
for Sunday August 23
White played: Qh5 if h6 Bxf6 Rxf6 Rxd7
Chess games
These two games were played at the Sinquefield Cup, St Louis, USA. The tournament ends on Thursday. Carlsen lost to Topalov while Anand lost to Nakamura.
White: Magnus Carlsen
Black: Veselin Topalov
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.O-O Nf6 5.Re1 a6 6.Bd3 b5 7.c4 g5 8.Nxg5 Ne5 9.Be2 bxc4 10.Na3 Rg8 11.Nxc4 Nxc4 12.d4 Nb6 13.Bh5 Nxh5 14.Qxh5 Rg7 15.Nxh7 Qd7 16.dxc5 dxc5 17.e5 Qc6 18.f3 Qg6 19.Nf6+ Kd8 20.Qxg6 Rxg6 21.Ne4 Bb7 22.h4 Rc8 23.h5 Rg8 24.Bd2 Nc4 25.Bc3 Bh6 26.Rad1+ Ke8 27.Rd3 Bf4 28.Nf2 Bc6 29.Nh3 Bg3 30.Re2 Bb5 31.Rd1 Bc6 32.Nf2 Bxe5 33.Ng4 Bxc3 34.bxc3 Kf8 35.Kf2 Rh8 36.Ne5 Nxe5 37.Rxe5 Be8 38.g4 f6 39.Re6 Bb5 40.Rde1 Rc7 0-1.
White: Hikaru Nakamura
Black: Viswanathan Anand
- d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Bd5 11. Qc2 Be4 12. Qd1 c5 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Qxd8 Rxd8 15. Nbd2 Bc6 16. Nb3 Be7 17. Na5 h6 18. Be3 Nd5 19. Bd2 Nb6 20. Bf4 Nd5 21. Ne5 g5 22. Bd2 Bf6 23. Nd3 b6 24. Nc4 b5 25. Bxd5 bxc4 26. Bxc4 Bxb2 27. Ra2 Bg7 28. Rc1 Be8 29. Nc5 Bf8 30. Bd3 Nc6 31. Be4 Rdc8 32. Kf1 Ra7 33. Nb3 Rac7 34. Rac2 Bd6 35. f4 f5 36. Bd3 Nb8 37. Rxc7 Rxc7 38. Rxc7 Bxc7 39. fxg5 hxg5 40. Nc5 Bd6 41. Nxe6 Bxa4 42. Nxg5 Bd7 43. Bc3 1-0.
