Recently elected president of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF), Frankie Farley envisions Guyana hosting the 46th Chess Olympiad while focusing on the development of the sport at the youth level.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport, Farley said that he will meet with the new members of the federation to discuss how they will go about accomplishing this goal which will be accompanied by the construction of a “world-class chess facility.
“After discussions with members [of the federation], I think we can host the Olympiad… by then we have oil and gas [and] a dynamic economic environment… I think we can sell and lobby as a small state. You know currently only huge states have access to the Olympiad, why not Guyana, we could do it, we will create a world class facility on the resort, my intention is to build a world-class chess stadium and use it as a door into sport tourism.” Next year, the Olympiad will be hosted in Russia while the Biennial event will be hosted in Belarus in 2022. However, Farley was cognizant of the requirements to pull off an extravagant tournament of this nature. “So many great ideas we have, ultimately I think we can do it, we have the right team in place, as long as we have this, great plans, great financial experts and my background as an engineer and architect and working in New York for the last 20 years I think I have the experience to develop those plans going forward,” Farley said.
Meanwhile, with the intention of making Guyana’s presence on the international stage felt in the Chess fraternity, the GCF president declared that that the focus going forward would be on the youths.
“Youth is the pillar of our programme, chess in schools, chess with youths, what our intentions are is a creation of an arbiter exchange, where we put all the players in a competitive environment and when you create that environment I think you get that value at the end of the day,” the GCF president stated.
Farley said that he recognises the strides already made, reflecting that “there are a number of small clubs forming and we are going to put incentives into those clubs, more clubs forming, better training in the future and more.
“Currently chess is on the move, it is on the rise but there are some things missing and that is what we are forming here now, the human resource with the knowledge of implementing things we have it here.”
He posited that with financial support from FIDE (World Chess Federation), a lot will be accomplished.
“Along with the subsidy from FIDE for the development plan, we will create a committee headed by Loris Nathoo who is a financial expert we will develop our plans along that line with some events finding financial support from the members,” he stated.
