The Guyana team seeking eminence at the 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia, entered the penultimate round of the competition with mixed fortunes albeit with more losses than victories.
The results so far have been quintessentially Guyanese as it is with other Caribbean nations. Collectively, the Caribbean has never been regarded as a prime chess region. The furthest Guyana reached at a Chess Olympiad was in 1978 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when we obtained a 53% mark in points. At that Olympiad there was no women’s team. If there had been one, Guyana’s total points would have been higher.
That record of besting the Caribbean stood for years. The Broomes brothers, Maurice and Gordon, and Edan Warsali were three of the players who represented Guyana in Buenos Aires. Guyana attended another Chess Olympiad in 1980 in Malta and finished with a score of 50%. Our next Olympiad sojourn was in 2014.
Evidently, the question arises: Why bother with playing chess? The answer, in my view, is multifaceted. We gain and achieve from playing chess. There is nothing to lose. We play at the separate Olympiads because the world gathers there. For example, at the current Olympiad, 185 teams are participants from 183 countries.
Chess is a game or pastime similar to any other. It underlines the principle of involvement. Pakistan and Bangladesh had to begin somewhere in the cricketing arena when they embraced nationhood. In years hence, the Caribbean may become a respected chess region. The idea is to persevere and let the chips fall where they may.
The Guyana men’s team engaged Ethiopia (No 136) and the women played the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) in the penultimate round. The IPCA is ranked at No 83 for the Olympiad. The Guyanese men are ranked at No 150 while the women are categorized at 129. The lower the number, the more prolific the team is.
In international news, a former deputy Russian premier, Arkady Dvorkovich, has been elected the new president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
According to the Associated Press (AP), “… the 46-year-old Dvorkovich served more than six years as Russia’s deputy prime minister overseeing energy industries”. Dvorkovich is an avid chess player and has promised to “take FIDE up to the highest standards of professionalism, efficiency and transparency,” according to AP. Dvorkovich also pledged to promote chess across the world.
