Guyana began its international chess campaign on Thursday at the Olympiad in Chennai, India, with its full ten-member squad in place.
The 188 participating teams in the Open category, and the 162 Women’s teams seeking glory for their countries are from all five continents. The USA is the clear favourite to win the Open because its team members have a 2700-plus FIDE rank, while India is tipped to win the Women’s tournament.
Russia and China are non-participants at this year’s Olympiad and this makes the competition weaker. Both countries have won gold no less than nine times in the past 11 Olympiads since 1998. China won the Open and Women’s titles at the last face-to-face Olympiad in Batumi in 2018.
The biennial Chess Olympiad is a large, peaceful sports festival that unites nations. Guyana is an emerging chess nation, which will be concentrating on improving its status in the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Simultaneously, the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) will be examining the possibility of obtaining additional titles for our players. With this in mind, Ethan Lee and Anaya Lall in particular, the two reserve players, should concentrate deeply and play authoritatively.
The more games a player wins, the more opportunities that player will have to play. It’s a team tournament, and naturally, losers would be forgotten. An official of the GCF Loris Nathooo noted that Guyana would be aiming to improve its rank to about 120 from 188 teams in the Open section of the tournament. However, each of the players has to pull his/her weight. Good luck!
Chess Game
The 2022 Chess Olympiad games are not as yet available. However, here is one played at the Batumi Olympiad in 2018.
White: Glenford Corlette, Guyana, 1653
Black: Abera Aydagnuhem Gezachew, Ethiopia, 2116
Event: 2018 Chess Olympiad, Batumi, Georgia
Type of Game: Italian Game, Schilling-Kostic Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. O-O Nxf3+ 5. Qxf3 Nf6 6. d3 d6 7. h3 Be7 8. Nc3 c6 9. Bd2 a5 10. a4 O-O 11. Qe2 Be6 12. f4 Bxc4 13. dxc4 Nd7 14. f5 Nc5 15. Kh1 Bg5 16. Rad1 Be7
17. Qg4 f6 18. Be3 Na6 19. Ne2 Qc7 20. Ng3 Rf7 21. c3 Rb8 22. h4 b5 23. cxb5 cxb5 24. axb5 Rxb5 25. Bc1 Qc4 26. h5 Nc5 27. Rf2 d5 28. Re2 Nd3 29. Red2 Nxc1 30. Rxc1 Bf8 31. Qf3 Rfb7 32. Rcc2 Bc5 33. Rxd5 Rxb2 34. Rxb2 Rxb2 35. h6 Rb7 36. Nh5 Bf8 37. Rd8 Kf7
38. Nxg7 Qc6 39. Qh5+ Ke7 40. Re8+ Kd6 41. Re6+ Kc7 42. Rxc6+ Kxc6 43. Qe8+ Kb6
44. Qxf8 Kb5 45. Qe8+ Ka6 46. Ne6 Kb6 47. c4 Ra7 48. Qb5 #. 1-0. Black resigns.
