Following a three-year hiatus, the increasingly popular Grand Prix face-to-face chess tournaments are back. Seasoned contenders, juniors who are aiming to demonstrate their prowess on the chess board and beginners who learned the game in school, will all be battling for recognition. The top finishers in this Grand Prix series will move a step closer toward representing Guyana internationally at the 2022 FIDE Chess Olympiad.
Each Grand Prix series consists of four tournaments. Points will be awarded after each tournament. Strong favourites to win the Grand Prix series are Taffin Khan, Wendell Meusa, Loris Nathoo, Ronuel Greenidge and Anthony Drayton. Irshad Mohamed plays a strong, five-minute blitz game but we are yet to see how he would fare in the classical event. Davion Mars is also an unpredictable contender.
For the women, Sheriffa Ali and Sasha Shariff seem to be the front runners in the absence of Maria Varona-Thomas. However, we have to consider the new entrants to the Grand Prix tables, who have been studying chess incessantly, receiving instructions from Indian International Masters, solving chess puzzles week after week, and are young and vigorous. Their entries make for a very interesting tournament.
FIDE, the World Chess Federation, held its first international Grand Prix Tournament in 2008. Preeminent grandmasters, including world chess champions, have competed over the years. Two grandmasters gain entry to the prestigious Candidates Tournament to choose an opponent for the current world champion.
Chess Game
White: Richard Rapport.
Black: Dmitry Andreikin.
Event: FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade 2022. Belgrade, Serbia, March 13.
Type of Game: Queen’s Gambit Declined: Janowski Variation.
1.d4d52.c4e63.Nc3a64.cxd5exd55.a3h66.Bf4Nf67.e3c58.Be5Be69.Nge2Nc610.Nf4cxd411.Bxd4Nxd412.Qxd4Bd613.g3Rc814.Rd1Qa515.Rc1O-O16.Nxe6fxe617.Bh3Kf718.O-ORc419.Qd3Be520.Ne2Rfc821.Rxc4Rxc422.b4Qa423.Nf4Bxf424.exf4Qc625.Qe3Ne426.f3Rc327.Qd4Rc428.Qe3Rc329.Qd4Rc430.Qe5Nd231.f5Nxf132.fxe6+Ke833.Qxg7Qb6+34.Kxf1Rc1+35.Ke2Re1+36.Kxe1Qe3+37.Kd1Qd3+38.Kc1Qe3+39.Kb1Qd3+40.Kc1Qe3+41.Kb2Qd2+42.Ka1Qc1+43.Ka2Qc4+44.Kb2Qe2+45.Ka1Qf1+46.Bxf11-0. Black resigns
