When the dust settled in the highly competitive December Open chess tournament, it was South African, Uddhav Bagwandeen who emerged victorious.
The Guyana Chess Federation-organized seven-round tournament concluded recently with Bagwandeen, completing an unblemished run.
The medical student won five of his matches while holding out for draws against Joshua Gopaul and Rai Sharma who ended second and third respectively.
Gopaul, who is a former junior champion, also drew his first round match up against his former schoolmate, Jaden Taylor, while his only loss came in round five against Gilbert Williams. He ended on five points.
Meanwhile, Sharma rolled back the years to end with 4.5 points due to losses at the hands of Ryan McKay and Gopaul and a draw against the eventual champion in round six.
Taylor also secured 4.5 points after losses in the first two rounds to McKay and Venezuelan, Shane Perez, respectively.
Williams, despite his victory over Gopaul, ended on four points. He was forced to forfeit round six to Taylor due to work commitments and went on to drop his final match up against Sharma.
A total of 13 players participated in this tournament, the federation’s first over the board tournament since the Covid pandemic began.
The National Rapid Play Championships are scheduled for December 27 and National Blitz Championship is expected to close off the year on December 31.
Director of Tournaments, Rashaad Hussain, said that he is expecting a better turnout for the remaining tournaments.
He said, “I am in an uphill battle to host these tournaments, with cries of the pandemic often being heard. But when I took office in 2019, I made a commitment to the federation that there will be no lack of competition moving forward. In the first 6 months there were about 15 tournaments, but then the pandemic struck. Now sports and activities have resumed and I will try my best to have over the board tournaments resume to its full capacity. Not everyone will play in every tournament but those interested will participate.”
Hussain said that he would also like to reach out to the draughts, dominoes, scrabble and any other smaller federations so that a collaborative effort to host these events simultaneously could be done.
“Small federations working together to help build each other is the best way to go. Physical interaction can easily build a persons’ interest in a particular sport,” he stated.
Persons interested in registering for the 2020 National Rapid Tournament are asked to contact Hussain on 658-3004.
