Following a lacklustre 2015, chess is off to a great start this year. Each January, Trophy Stall’s Owner/Managing Director Ramesh Sunich sponsors a classical chess tournament which usually attracts the nation’s finest players. At the conclusion of that competition, President of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) Irshad Mohammed announced that a Mashramani Chess Tournament would be held to complement the Trophy Stall event.
Beckoning players to formally battle each other over the chessboard within a four-week span is unprecedented. However, when you consider the non-activity of the past two years, it is good news. The destiny of local chess will rest on the kind of action the federation takes in these early days to reassure all, especially the young disciples of the mysterious board game, of the GCF’s purpose, its status quo, and the manner in which it intends to make hay. Regular tournaments, in addition to careful study of the game, would allow us to share in the fruits of stardom in international chess.
Former national junior and senior chess champion of Guyana Taffin Khan, played flawlessly to seize top honours in the Trophy Stall tournament. He overcame challenges from the leading chess players of the day, Wendell Meusa and Anthony Drayton, and scored a whopping 6½ points from seven games (a win, one point; a draw, half-a-point; a loss, zero). Maria Thomas held Khan to his only draw of the competition.
Khan is the son of one-time national chess player from the 1980s, David Khan. He did not attend the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Norway in conjunction with his other Guyanese colleagues owing to an unhealthy hullaballoo over which he had no control. At the Forbes Burnham Memorial Chess Tournament last August, Khan shared first place with Drayton. It means, supposedly, with his current victory and unbounded talent, Khan is a strong candidate for selection to the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Baku.
Years ago, the GCF introduced the idea of selecting a brilliancy prize for a particular game in tournaments. If you believed your game was brilliant, and possessed the qualities to win the prize, you were invited to submit the game for candid assessment. The game was replayed by the brilliancy team who determined whether it possessed potential to proceed. Regrettably, this does not exist any longer.
In my estimation, a brilliant game was played during the Trophy Stall tournament between Loris Nathoo and Roberto Neto. Nathoo was playing the white pieces and he had begun to falter on time. Now, in an assertive tournament game, falling behind on your clock is tantamount to disaster. As your time runs out, you get nervous and your moves suffer in quality. Most likely, you play the worst possible moves. Not so with Nathoo. When Nathoo falters on the clock, he becomes dangerous.
Neto felt certain of victory. He had two full minutes to his opponent’s 20 seconds. With his moves, Nathoo began to cement Neto’s fate by spinning a spider’s web of checkmate. Nathoo was playing at dizzying speed. The once imperturbable Neto felt he should match Nathoo’s speed. It was a mistake.
With Nathoo down to nine seconds on his clock, Neto was confused. He attempted to move his king but changed his mind. Suddenly, Neto seemed terrified of Nathoo’s rook. Although he was silent, Neto telegraphed that he was stupefied and in dismay, as he witnessed a colossal turning point in the game.
Neto played with Nathoo on three seconds, intending to beat Nathoo on time. But with a single swoop of his hand, Nathoo executed checkmate with a rook. His time: one second remaining on the clock.
Neto’s loss produced a psychological shock from which he didn’t recover. He dropped out of the tournament.
Chess games
US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura emerged victorious at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Tournament ahead of some other elite grandmasters including former world champion Vishy Anand. Here are four games from the tournament.
White: Hikaru Nakamura
Black: Robert Bellin
1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d5 7. Qc2 Nc6 8. a3 a5 9. Nbd2 Ne4 10. e3 Kh8 11. b3 Bd7 12. Bb2 Be8 13. Rac1 Bg6 14. Ne1 Bf7 15. Nd3 a4 16. b4 Bd6 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Nf3 Qe8 19. Nfe5 Nd8 20. Nc5 Bxe5 21. dxe5 Nxc5 22. bxc5 Qb5 23. Rfd1 c6 24. Bf1 Qa5 25. Bc3 Qxc5 26. e6 Nxe6 27. Bxg7+ Kxg7 28. Qb2+ Kg8 29. Rxc5 Nxc5 30. Qb6 Bh5 31. Rd4 Nd7 32. Qxb7 Ne5 33. Rb4 Nf3+ 34. Kh1 Ne1 35. Qxc6 Bf3+ 36. Kg1 Be4 37. Be2 Nf3+ 38. Bxf3 Bxf3 39. Rb7 1-0.
White: Sebastian Mihajlov
Black: Ni Hua
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 h6 9. Bh4 Bd6 10. O-O c6 11. Qc2 Qc7 12. Bg3 Bxg3 13. hxg3 O-O 14. b4 Qd6 15. Rab1 Rfc8 16. Rfc1 b6 17. Qe2 a5 18. a3 b5 19. e4 dxe4 20. Nxe4 Nxe4 21. Qxe4 Nf6 22. Qe5 Qf8 23. a4 axb4 24. axb5 cxb5 25. Rc5 Rxc5 26. dxc5 Rc8 27. Rxb4 Rxc5 28. Qb2 Bc4 29. Bxc4 bxc4 30. Qd4 Qc8 31. Qd6 Rd5 32. Rb8 Rd1+ 33. Qxd1 Qxb8 34. Qd4 Qb1+ 35. Kh2 Qe4 36. Qc5 Ng4+ 37. Kh3 Qe6 38. Nd4 Nxf2+ 39. Kh2 Ng4+ 40. Kh3 Qd7 0-1.
White: Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
Black: Radoslaw Wojtaszek
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. f4 e6 7. Nf3 Nge7 8. Be3 O-O 9. O-O b6 10. d4 d5 11. e5 Nf5 12. Bf2 Ba6 13. Re1 cxd4 14. Nxd4 Nfxd4 15. Bxd4 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 Qe7 17. Qa4 Qc5+ 18. Kh1 Bb7 19. Ne2 b5 20. Qb3 a5 21. Qd3 Rfc8 22. Nd4 b4 23. a4 Qb6 24. Rad1 Rc4 25. b3 Rc3 26. Qd2 Rac8 27. g4 Bh6 28. Rf1 Ba6 29. Rf3 Rxf3 30. Nxf3 Rc3 31. Re1 Qc5 32. Nd4 Bd3 33. Ne2 Bxe2 34. Rxe2 Qe7 35. g5 Bf8 36. Re3 Qc5 37. Re2 Qb6 38. Qd1 Bc5 39. Qe1 Be3 40. Qf1 Qd4 41. f5 gxf5 0-1.
White: Gata Kamsky
Black: Marcelo Ripari
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Ndb5 Bb4 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. Nxc3 d5 9. exd5 exd5 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O d4 12. Ne2 Bg4 13. Bg5 Bh5 14. Re1 Re8 15. Qd2 Qd6 16. Qf4 Qxf4 17. Nxf4 Bg6 18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. Rad1 Nd7 20. h4 Nc5 21. Bc4 Na4 22. Bb5 Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 Nc5 24. Bf4 Ne6 25. Bg3 Ne7 26. Be5 Rc8 27. Bd3 Nc6 28. Bh2 Nc5 29. Bf1 a6 30. Bd6 Na4 31. b3 Nc3 32. Bd3 Rd8 33. Bc5 Rd5 34. Re8+ Kh7 35. b4 Nb5 36. Be4 Rd7 37. h5 Nd6 38. hxg6+ fxg6 39. Bxd6 Rxd6 40. f4 Rf6 41. g3 Rf7 42. Kf2 Rc7 43. Re6 Ne7 44. g4 1-0.
