“We are focused on the administration of chess to increase our reach throughout Guyana. We finally have a programme which is FIDE approved and we will be looking to execute it in full in the upcoming months. We will be having grandmaster training for our elite chess players.” – James Bond, President of the Guyana Chess Federation
Each chess Olympiad takes on a different dimension, but the majesty of the event has remained homogenous. Every two years, the chess world meets at the Olympiad to celebrate and examine the intricacies of the royal game; to compete, renew old friendships and establish new ones. The princely event brings together teams from about two-thirds of the nations worldwide, gathering in one location for approximately three weeks. For example, at this year’s Olympiad, 183 countries were represented!
Guyana enriched her image lavishly when she participated in the 2018 Chess Olympiad. She was the first nation to be interviewed and garner exposure in the widely-circulated online magazine, Chess Base. Our nation received positive publicity similar to three years ago when the country first discovered oil. Perhaps the magnificent oil find generated the interest Guyana sparked at the Chess Olympiad. Each Guyanese participant at the Olympiad, man and woman, won a game during the fiercely contested competition. On occasion, the women engineered a clean sweep winning 4-0, and the men came within half-a-point of repeating the same. It was a commendable effort when one reasons that three of the Guyanese women players are at school, and chess elites, in addition to super-chess elites, were prevalent at the Olympiad; the finest from each country.