Eight months into the year, the strength of Guyana’s player-development invisible programme was in evidence during the Forbes Burnham Memorial Chess Tournament. We saw Anthony Drayton, Taffin Khan and Clement Corlette competing at the top of their game in the senior category of the competition. It means therefore, that a development 
programme is not as concealed as it had seemed. Chess is being played and new moves are being practiced, in private homes, at the Bourda mall, in South Road and on the internet, which are the regular meeting places for chess players of Region Four. Now we are eagerly awaiting the national junior and senior competitions.
In my estimation, the standard of local chess is improving although the number of local tournaments have been limited. It means the games of grandmasters are being studied and at times dissected, and chess puzzles are being studiously confronted. To determine to what extent we have improved, we need to play more inter-regional tournaments. Suriname is only a modest drive away and we can begin from there. For next year’s programme, the Guyana Chess Federation should include Suriname as a primary destination in