Twenty-four- year-old Anthony Drayton has been awarded the title of FIDE Master (FM), following his participation at the recent Sub Zonal Chess tournament in Jamaica.
Drayton is the first male Guyanese to hold the title and only the second behind Woman FIDE Master (WFM) Maria Varona-Thomas.
Though Drayton does not hold the current FIDE points, (2100) to have the title behind his name, he stated that the new rules allowed him to have the title conditionally.
Vice-President of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF), Irshad Mohammed confirmed this and referred to the FIDE handbook 0.62 which states: “If an applicant is rated lower, the title is awarded conditionally and will be awarded finally on request by the respective federation as soon as the minimum rating is achieved. Any player with a conditional title may take a lower title when they reach the required rating for that lower title.”