John Macedo, 68, an accomplished chess player during the 1970s and 1980s, died two Thursdays ago in Guyana following a brief illness. His family confirmed his death.
The highlight of Macedo’s chess career was his representation of Guyana in the 24th Chess Olympiad in Valletta, Malta. The Olympiad was held from November 20th to December 6th. Macedo was appointed captain of the Guyana team which consisted, in board order, of: Maurice Broomes, his brother Gordon Broomes, Patrick Wharton, Ronald Austin and John Macedo. Guyana’s placement was at 63 from 81 countries, just after Japan and above Luxembourg and New Zealand. Guyana tied with Luxembourg at 26½ points but won on the tie break.
The Soviet Union and Hungary tied for first at the Olympiad, but the Soviets took home the gold medal after winning the tiebreak. World champion Anatoly Karpov played top board for the Soviets but he fell ill and was succeeded by the fearsome Mikhail Tal, a former world champion himself. A 17-year-old Garry Kasparov played at the 1980 Olympiad also, and won a bronze medal on the second reserve board.
Following the 1980 Chess Olympiad, it took 34 years before Guyana would again compete in a similar competition at the international level in 2014. A former president of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) and currently a director of the GCF board, Irshad Mohammad, re-energized the defunct Olympiad trend.
Macedo was born on July 20, 1954 and became a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldier. He represented the GDF in a number of local chess tournaments. His development as a chess player was steady, but a lack of participation in international tournaments was suffocating his realization of becoming an elite chess player. However, he achieved much when he competed against the world’s elite at the 24th Chess Olympiad. He enjoyed a taste of rubbing shoulders with current, past and future world champions in the game he loved so dearly.
Fellow chess Olympian Loris Nathoo described Macedo thus: “John was an unpretentious person, visibly unassuming. A mannerly gentleman; not loquacious. Decent and unselfish.” Another director of the GCF Shiv Nandalall noted: “John was a gentleman”.
Macedo has been acknowledged by the older chess generation as having knowledge in the theoretical aspects of chess;
discernment, tact and intelligence when reading the game, and courage when making decisions. Added to that, Macedo possessed charm and
hospitality within his personality. Nathoo said he represented the pattern which young chess players should emulate.
In his latter years, Macedo turned to mining, a field in which he felt comfortable. He played blitz chess regularly on the internet and became better than he was previously. Before he passed, Macedo accommodated me with face-to-face chess. We played the old time way; the way chess should be played.
Chess game
The 2023 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship
is ongoing. The competitors are both from China.
White: Lei Tingjie
Black: Ju Wenjun
Event: 2023 FIDE Women’s World
Chess Championship, Shanghai/Chongqing, July 11
Type of Game: Italian Game
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. c3 a5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. Re1 Ba7 9. h3 Be6 10. Bc2 h6 11. d4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Bd7 13. Be3 Ne5 14. Nd2 c5 15. N4f3 Bc6 16. Nxe5 dxe5 17. a4 Qe7 18. Qe2 Rfd8 19. Red1 Bb8 20. Qc4 b6 21. b4 axb4 22. cxb4 Bd6 23. b5 Bd7 24. Qc3 Be6 25. Nc4 Bxc4 26. Qxc4 Ne8 27. Bb3 Nc7 28. Qc2 Ne6 29. Bd5 Rab8 30. Bxe6 Qxe6 31. Rd5 Be7 32. Rad1 Rxd5 33. Rxd5 Ra8 34. Bd2 Kf8 35. Bc3 f6 36. Qb3 Qc8 37. Qc4 Qe8 38. g3 Qc8 39. Kg2 Qe8 40. h4 h5 41. Bd2 Rb8 42. f4 exf4 43. Bxf4 Rb7 44. Qe2 g6 45. e5
