Guyana advances to penultimate round of chess Olympiad with more losses than gains

By Errol Tiwari On In Chess with Errol |
Arkady Dvorkovich, 46, a former deputy prime minister of Russia, was elected president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) at its congress which took place during the Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia. Dvorkovich defeated the incumbent Georgios Makropoulos by a 103 to 78 vote. Following his victory, Dvorkovich announced an annual budget of €3 million for developing countries. (Photo: Chess Base)
Arkady Dvorkovich, 46, a former deputy prime minister of Russia, was elected president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) at its congress which took place during the Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia. Dvorkovich defeated the incumbent Georgios Makropoulos by a 103 to 78 vote. Following his victory, Dvorkovich announced an annual budget of €3 million for developing countries. (Photo: Chess Base)

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.