Guyana opposed nine countries on Friday, Saturday and today for the start of the online 2020 Chess Olympiad.
The opponents played from their respective homes in Honduras, Nicaragua, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Guyana was lower ranked than a number of them. Our highest FIDE ranked contestant was Taffin Khan (1989) in juxtaposition to 17 other contestants who were rated 2238 to 2004.
Khan played in the Open Category on Board i and Board ii with Wendell Meusa (1987) and Anthony Drayton (1950). Among Guyana’s opponents there was at least one International Master from Honduras playing Board ii for his country.
From the Base Division in which Guyana was entered, three teams will proceed to the next round. Team captain Loris Nathoo expressed confidence in the women and lower boards to hold their own. He said this is where Guyana has to accumulate its points. Also, he is not denying the abilities of the upper boards although they were outclassed by the FIDE statistics.
Maria Varona-Thomas, Samirah Gobin, Yolander Persaud and Sheriffa Ali played Boards i and ii for the women, Sasha Shariff and Jessica Callender for the Girls U-20 and Ethan and Rajiv Lee for the Boys U-20.
