“My citizenship is within me. I drank it with my mother’s milk. It is my identity. It is my love for Greece, for my friends, for Greek music and art. It is my soul. And as the Russian girl says in the story, ‘My soul they cannot touch.’ – Melina Mercouri , Greek film actress and politician, from an address on the subject ‘The Artist and Politics,’ which was delivered to the Women’s Democratic Club in Washington, January 23, 1968.
I quoted the excerpt from Mercouri’s electrifying address because 2016 is a chess Olympiad year. And if Guyana is proceeding to the Olympiad, we should be proceeding with patriotic fervour, sufficient knowledge of chess theory, and the will to exit with titles. Chess and diplomacy are inseparable, and both are required if we are to sign our names in the titles ledger. For next year’s Chess Olympiad, some 170 nations are expected to participate in the tournament, the same as in 2014. The Olympiad buzz is scheduled to begin in early September, and for two subsequent weeks the focus of approximately two billion people would be on Baku, in Russia, where the competition would be held. I say two billion because if 170 countries are participants, logically, it stands to reason those participating nations would demonstrate an interest in their country’s representatives.
Is the Guyana Chess Federation participating in the Olympiad? It’s early to accurately determine whether there is a probability of doing so, but I would be overjoyed if the federation did. In the view of a sprinkling of chess enthusiasts, whom I encountered, structured chess in Guyana has begun to plummet. It has dropped sharply and abruptly. Although we have sudden energetic bursts of activity, periodically, the structured approach is yet to be cemented. The federation is in good faith tasked, almost religiously, to foster the perception that chess is a lively game that is played in Guyana, and its popularity has grown, and is growing, and promises a Guyana where at least some of her people are worthwhile players. For those who view such an exercise as one of futility, this column endorses the famous statement “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
No sport is “worth its salt” or complete, without a national championship. In chess, we contest the national junior and senior championships, and both are necessary. We are optimistic therefore that both championships would be delivered by the end of the year.
A noble attempt was made during the Forbes Burnham Memorial Tournament to identify the contestants for the national junior championship, based on their performances. However, that was not to be, as some of our strongest junior players did not play in the tournament. On the day after the Memorial began, school was reopening for the Christmas term. Naturally, that put a damper on the federation’s good intentions. But no matter how frustrating the abilities to get the juniors to play chess are, we have to continue to accommodate them because they are our inspiration, and primary sources for a chess continuation in Guyana. We would prefer not to imitate the Huns, who were a people that left no writing, no music, no paintings, no chess evidence, not even stories, save for those which were recorded by Priscus and a few other Roman scholars.
The world is moving on with playing the abundantly rich mind game. Over the centuries, the extraordinary game has enthralled billions in every corner of the universe. Inter-national competitions are being held in various cities as I write. Carlsen won the World’s Rapid Cham-pionship, and Russia’s Grischuk took the World’s Blitz in Berlin; India’s Harikrishna emerged victorious in the Isle of Man tournament; Nakamura defeated all comers in the Millionaire Chess Tournament in Las Vegas and Hungary’s strongest woman ever to have played the game, Judit Polgar, is hosting a colourful Chess Festival in Budapest. Polgar noted: “Our goal is to attract five million people from five continents to join the Global Chess Festival within the next ten years. We aim to provide them with the opportunity of establishing cooperation and building up friendships across the barriers of language, age, gender, ethnicity, religion, physical ability or social status.”
In Guyana, we are optimistic that we are going to contest the national chess championships.
Chess Games
Here are four games from the World Rapid Chess Championship by Lenier Dominguez-Perez that took place in Berlin recently. The Cuban grandmaster tied for fourth in the tournament which was won by world champion Magnus Carlsen.
White: Vladimir Akopian
Black: Leinier Dominguez Perez
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. c4 Nc6 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5
Nxd5 6. Nc3 g6 7. Qb3 e6 8. O-O Bg7 9. d3 O-O
10. Bg5 Qd7 11. Rfd1 b6 12. Rac1 Bb7 13. Qa4 h6
14. Bd2 Rfd8 15. Qh4 g5 16. Qa4 Nce7 17. Qxd7
Rxd7 18. h4 g4 19. Nh2 f5 20. Nf1 Rad8 21. Ne3
Nxe3 22. Bxe3 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Kf7 24. b3 h5 25.
Bg5 Bf6 26. Bxf6 Kxf6 27. a3 Nc6 28. Kf1 Nd4 29.
b4 Rc8 30. Na4 Rdc7 31. e3 Nf3 32. bxc5 b5 33.
Nc3 Rxc5 34. Ne2 Rxc1 35. Rxc1 Nd2+ 36. Ke1
Rxc1+ 37. Nxc1 Nb1 38. a4 bxa4 39. Kd1 Nc3+ 40.
Kc2 Nd5 41. Kb2 e5 42. Ne2 Nb4 43. Nc1 e4 44.
dxe4 fxe4 45. Ka3 Nd3 46. Ne2 Nxf2 47. Kxa4
Nd1 48. Nf4 Nxe3 49. Nxh5+ Ke5 50. Nf4 Nf5 51.
Ne2 e3 52. h5 Ke4 53. Kb5 Kf3 54. Nf4 e2 55. Nd3
Kxg3 56. Kc5 Kf3 57. Kd5 g3 58. Ke5 Nh6 0-1.
White: Leinier Dominguez Perez
Black: Vladimir Malakhov
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4
Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.
h3 h5 10. Nc3 Ke8 11. Bf4 Be7 12. Rad1 Be6 13.
Ng5 Rh6 14. Rfe1 Bb4 15. Nge4 Rg6 16. Kh2
Bxc3 17. Nxc3 Rd8 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Ne4 Bd5
20. b3 Bxe4 21. Rxe4 c5 22. c3 Kd7 23. Bd2 h4 24.
Rf4 Ke6 25. Ra4 a6 26. Bf4 Kd5 27. g4 hxg3+ 28.
fxg3 Re6 29. Kg2 Ne7 30. Kf3 Ng6 31. Re4 Nxe5+
32. Bxe5 Rxe5 33. c4+ Ke6 34. Kf4 Rxe4+ 35.
Kxe4 f5+ 36. Kf4 Kf6 37. h4 b6 38. a3 b5 39. a4
bxa4 40. bxa4 a5 41. g4 fxg4 42. Kxg4 Ke5 43.
Kg5 Kd4 44. Kg6 Kxc4 45. Kxg7 Kb4 46. h5 c4
47. h6 c3 48. h7 c2 49. h8=Q c1=Q 50. Qe8 c6 51.
Qe4+ Qc4 52. Qb1+ Kxa4 53. Kf6 Qc3+ 54. Kf5
c5 55. Qa2+ Kb4 56. Qb1+ Ka3 57. Kg6 a4 58. Kf5
c4 59. Ke6 Qb2 60. Qg1 c3 61. Qc5+ Qb4 62. Qe3
Qb3+ 63. Kd6 c2 0-1.
White: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Black: Leinier Dominguez Perez
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-
O 6. a3 Nbd7 7. c4 c6 8. Nbd2 b6 9. e4 Nxe4 10.
Nxe4 dxe4 11. Ne5 Bb7 12. Bxe4 Nxe5 13. dxe5
Qc7 14. Re1 c5 15. h4 Rad8 16. Qf3 Bxe4 17. Rxe4
Rd7 18. Bg5 Rfd8 19. Rae1 Rd3 20. Qg4 Bxg5 21.
hxg5 R8d4 22. Rxd4 Rxd4 23. Qf3 Qe7 24. Qc6 g6
25. f4 Qd8 26. b4 Rd3 27. Kg2 Qd4 28. bxc5 bxc5
29. Rh1 Qb2+ 30. Kh3 Qf2 0-1.
White: Ian Nepomniachtchi
Black: Leinier Dominguez Perez
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6
bxc6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O Re8 9. Bg5 h6
10. Bh4 Be7 11. e5 Nd5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Qd2
Qb4 14. Rae1 Qf4 15. Qd1 Nxc3 16. bxc3 d5 17.
exd6 Bg4 18. Rxe8+ Rxe8 19. Re1 Rf8 20. f3 Be6
21. dxc7 Qxc7 22. Qe2 Qb6+ 23. Qe3 Rb8 24.
Qxb6 axb6 25. a4 Kf8 26. Rb1 Ke7 27. a5 Kd6 28.
Rxb6 Rxb6 29. axb6 Bc8 30. Bc4 f6 31. Kf2 Kc5
32. Be6 Ba6 33. Ke3 Kxb6 34. Kd4 Bf1 35. g3 Bg2
36. Bg4 Bf1 37. Ke4 Bc4 38. Bh5 Be6 39. Be8 c5
40. Ba4 Kc7 41. Bb3 Kd6 42. Bxe6 Kxe6 43. g4 g6
44. h3 f5+ 45. Ke3 Ke5 46. c4 Ke6 47. Kf4 Kf6 48.
h4 Ke6 49. Ke3 1/2-1/2.
