National junior chess champion Keron Sandiford made a bold statement two Thursday nights ago when he won the first Century 21 Grand Prix tournament of 2024. All through the tournament Sandiford was in a buoyant mood even as he opposed senior participants. Sandiford played unbeaten.
So did Shazeeda Rahim, winner of the Women’s category of the tournament. Rahim’s result was sensational, taking into consideration she won eight of eight games, including a victory over the 2023 national chess champion. I remember Rahim as a leading light of women’s chess, but then she disappeared from the game to concentrate on her academic studies. Now she is back and lifting the standard of women’s chess in Guyana.
Rahim’s most belligerent competition came from Queen’s College teenager Aditi Joshi, who only lost to Rahim in the competition. I looked at a few of Joshi’s games and she was on top of things for about 90 percent of the time.
To solidify their games, the ladies especially, would thrive better in chess as they continue to replay games of the masters, and of local competitions. The two should be interwoven.
These wins for Sandiford and Rahim would greatly benefit them if they aspire to represent Guyana at the Chess Olympiad in September. They will acquire the maximum Grand Prix points for their victories in this tournament. This year the Olympiad will be held in Budapest, Hungary. In excess of 150 countries are usually represented as participants. It is one of the largest sporting events on 
record.
Meanwhile, the next Grand Prix tournament begins early February, where most or all of Guyana’s active chess players will compete. As an incentive, the Grand Prix tournaments will be used as a yardstick to choose the teams which will represent Guyana in the wider Caricom Chess Tournament in March. That tournament will be held in Guyana and will celebrate 50 years since Caricom was established. The Caricom Tournament is the brainchild of Guyana Chess Foundation director Shiv Nandalall who argued that since Guyana is a founder member of the precursor of Caricom, it has a duty to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
In international news, Dommaraju Gukesh and Nodirbek Abdusattorov were leading the points standing on Wednesday with 6.5 points after ten games in the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. That tournament ends this evening.
