The statistics from the 2020 and 2021 online Chess Olympiads are taken from two reports prepared by Guyanese Loris Nathoo, who was player/ captain of the 2020 team, and player of the 2021 team.
In both instances, Guyana excelled with impeccable play. Wendell Meusa scored six victories from six games in 2020. This time around, in 2021, Nellisha Johnson scored 6.5 points from nine games (a win=1 point, a draw= ½ point, a loss=0 point). Neither Meusa nor Anthony Drayton, the 2020 national chess champion, participated in this year’s Olympiad. Other sterling performances this year came from Nathoo, who scored 3 points from five games; Shazeeda Rahim, with 4 points from seven games; Jessica Callender, with 4.5 points from ten games; and Ricardo Narine, with 4 points from ten games.
Facing opponents from around the world in the Boards One and Two positions in chess is an arduous task. Those contenders from other countries represent the finest brains a nation has to offer. Taffin Khan managed 3 points from seven games and Davion Mars exited with 2.5 points from eight games.
Some of our strongest players did not participate in the 2021 Chess Olympiad owing to various compelling reasons. In that sense, I wish to congratulate the entire team for a worthwhile performance.
Chess Game
White: Lenier Dominguez-Perez
Black: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Tournament: Sinquefield Cup, St Louis, Missouri, USA
Type of Game: Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation, English Attack, August 20, 2021
1. E4c5 2. Nf3d6 3. D4cxd4 4. Nxd4Nf6 5. Nc3a6 6. Be3e5 7. Nb3Be6 8. f3Be7 9. Qd2O-O 10. O-O-ONbd7 11. G4b5 12. g5Nh5 13. Kb1Nb6 14. Na5Rc8 15. Nd5Nxd5 16. exd5Bxd5 17. Qxd5Qxa5 18. c4Nf4 19. Bxf4exf4 20. h4Qa4 21. Bd3bxc4 22. Qe4g6 23. Bc2Qd7 24. h5Qe6 25. Hxg6hxg6 26. Qxf4Qe5 27. Qh4Qg7 28. Rd2Rc5 29. F4f6 30. Rdh2fxg5 31. Qe1Bf6 32. Rh6Qb7 33. Qe6+. 1-0. Black resigns.
