Soon after the Gaico Construction sponsorship for chess was finalised, Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) favoured the brain game with a $320,000 injection. The Topco Juices arm of the beverage giant DDL will sponsor six tournaments for junior chess players. The first was held yesterday at the Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal.
For years, a formula for popularising children’s chess and inevitably school chess was envisaged. Owing to several insurmountable factors, the project did not fully get off the ground. One of those factors was adequate sponsorship. The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF), therefore, is hopeful things will get better now that sponsorship for junior tournaments has been realised. The more tournament practice a player gets, the better that player’s game becomes. Who can tell? Perhaps there is an international champion somewhere within our midst.
The Gaico 3 Chess Tournament continues today at the National Resource Centre from 9 am. West Demerara’s Taffin Khan took top honours at Gaico 2. He was followed by Ronuel Greenidge, Davion Mars and Loris Nathoo. The challenge is on for a place at the Chess Olympiad in Russia next year.
