At the lively awards ceremony to mark the 30th death anniversary of former president Forbes Burnham at the Carifesta Sports Club on the evening of Friday before last, there was a palpable sense of excitement among the karate kids who assembled to uplift their medals and trophies. Among the chess and volleyball trophy winners, the mood was more subdued since the youths were older, but they nevertheless exulted in their success. A month-long sports programme beginning in August was featured to honour the memory of Forbes Burnham who had an abiding interest in chess and cricket, among other sports disciplines.
The Minister within the Ministry of Education with responsibility for Culture, Youth and Sport, Nicolette Henry, presented the feature address for the ceremony. Mayor Hamilton Green and a sprinkling of the PNCR officials which included General Secretary Oscar Clarke, Dr Richard Van-West Charles, Lance Carberry, Vincent Alexander and the GYSM National Chairman Ryan Belgrave, were all there to officiate in the evening’s proceedings. During the presentation of her feature address, Minister Henry noted that this was the first time in 23 years the Minister responsible for sport in Guyana had been present.
The Minister reminded an attentive audience that Burnham was one of the architects of Guyana’s independence and republican status, who realized the economic, cultural and psychological freedom of Guyanese. Burnham initiated programmes for social and cultural cohesion and made Guyana a proud member of the international community, and a champion of regional integration, he said.
Chess received medals and trophies for both its junior and senior victors who participated in the memorial tournament. Roberto Neto and Anthony Drayton took the top awards for the junior and senior chess tournaments respectively. Roberto’s standard of play has im-proved almost beyond recognition, and it is little wonder that he carted off the top prize in the junior category. Roberto express-ed a desire to do battle in next year’s 180 nation Chess Olympiad scheduled to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Participating in the junior memorial tournament also was Michael Chapp Jumbo, a Nigerian, who finished the tournament in third place behind Republic Bank’s Davion Mars, who also has an interest in participating in the 2016 Chess Olympiad. Of note, former national champion Taffin Khan did not lose a game in the tournament, cementing his second place in the senior’s. He drew with Neto, Clement Corlette and Drayton.
Internationally, the FIDE World Chess Cup has narrowed to 32 players. Cuba’s rising star Lenier Dominguez is still there and he played British grandmaster Michael Adams on Friday. Dominguez is higher ranked than his opponent, and, therefore, can take him down. Participants are obligated to secure victories to stay in the World Cup. In the end, there can be only one winner from the 128 players who qualified to participate in the competition. Meanwhile, the reigning president of FIDE, the Federation Internationale des Echecs, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, has been requested to enter the race for the FIFA (football) presidency. The request emanated from the Presi-dent of the Russian Chess Federation and a Vice-President of FIDE, Andrey Filatov. Filatov said the FIDE president is “an experienced sports manager with expertise in football.”
