Now that the matter of the ousting of Frankie Farley from the presidency of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) is being addressed by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), we should continue with the business of circulating the game of chess to the general public. We have a long mountain to climb if we intend to make chess a national pastime, or as close to it as possible.
The Chess Olympiad is a sure way of gaining titles for our players, and, therefore, we should not wait until an Olympiad year comes around to begin our preparations. On the contrary, we should get on with the business of tournaments and continue to groom our juniors to become more skillful as Marcia Lee and Anand Raghunauth have been doing over the years. These two officials of the GCF have donated a lot of their time to stimulate the popularity of chess. The latest is having it played at the Giftland Mall on Saturdays; senior players encourage the public through the hosting of simultaneous exhibitions.
As an aside, our juniors can only become stronger chess players when they face off in tournament chess, though we have been doing this. Ethan Lee, 19, played well at the 2022 Olympiad in India against much stronger opposition. And the female team, all juniors, did the same. Guyana is looking forward to the 2024 Chess Olym-piad.
Meanwhile, on the inter-national scene, America’s Hikaru Nakamura is the new Fischer Random World Champion. He defeated Ian Nepomnian-chtchi in an Armageddon following a 2=2 tie. World champion Magnus Carlsen was third. A previous world champion, Bobby Fischer, invented the Random game.
Chess game
The Fischer Random Chess is a chess variant that was invented by the legendary Bobby Fischer, world champion from 1972-75. The game’s rules are the same as standard chess but the starting position of the pieces is randomly shuffled.
In the game that follows, the pieces occupy the following starting positions:
1. a1 and a8 = Queen
2. b1 and b8 = Knight
3. c1 and c8 = Bishop
4. d1 and d8 = Rook
5. e1 and e8 = King
6. f1 and f8 = Rook
7. g1 and g8 = Knight
8. h1 and h8 = Bishop
The pawns assume their original positions on the seventh rank.
White: Magnus Carlsen
Black: Hikaru Nakamura
Event: World Fischer Random 2022, Rapid, Reykjavik, Iceland
Type of Game: Uncommon Opening
1. b4 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. a4 g6 5. Nf3 Na6 6. Ba3 Ne4 7. Qa2 Nd6 8.d3O-O9.O-O b5 10. Qb3 ba4 11. Qa4 Qb7 12. c3 Bd7 13. Qc2 Rc8 14. d4 Nc7 15. Nbd2 Ncb5 16. Bb2 Bf5 17. Qb3 a5 18. ba5 Qc7 19. Qa4 Ra8 20. Ra1 Rfb8 21. Rfc1 Ne4 22. Ne4 Be4 23. Nd2 Bg2 24. Kg2 c5 25. Rc2 c4 26. Nf3 Na7 27. Ba3 e5 28. de5 Be5 29. Ne5 Qe5 30. Bc5 Rb3 31. a6 Qe4 32. Kg1 Qc2 33. Qd7 Rb1 34. Rb1 Qb1 35. Kg2 Qb5 36. Qb7 Qb7 37. ab7 Rb8 38. Ba7 Rb7 39. Bd4 Kf8 40. g4 Ke7 41. g5 Ke6 42. f3 Rb1 43. e3 Kd6 44. Kg3 Kc6 45. Kf4 Rf1 46. h4 Kb5. 0-1. White resigns.
