A Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) contingent has received the support of the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sport and the National Sports Commission (NSC) as they travel to Hungary to represent the country at the 45th Chess Olympiad.
According to a release from the NSC, the support is in keeping with the government’s vision of ensuring “Guyanese athletes are afforded every opportunity to represent the Golden Arrowhead.”
The 45th edition of the Olympiad, the World Cup of Chess, is set to take place in Budapest, Hungary, from September 10 to 23.
Coincidentally, Hungary is the nation that hosted the first unofficial Chess Olympiad for teams in 1926 and won the first two official editions in 1927 and 1928, respectively. At a simple ceremony, Minister of Sport Charles Ramson Jr., in the company of Director of Sport Steve Ninvalle, handed over the government’s contribution of 2.5 million dollars to President of the Guyana Chess Federation, Anand Ragunauth.
While congratulating President Ragunauth for the strides that Chess has been making in the past few years, Minister Ramson underscored the government’s commitment to the development of chess and other sports in Guyana.
Ramson noted, “Government will continue to empower athletes by investing in their development, not only in building new facilities and refurbishing those already existing, but by making sure that they are enabled to compete at the highest possible levels they can.”
Meanwhile, GCF’s President Ragunauth expressed the gratitude of his Federation for the unflinching support of President Ali and the Government of Guyana.
“We are so grateful for this timely intervention, which has relieved the pressure of meeting the demands of travel to this prestigious event. The commitment by President Ali in getting the team the additional funds shows chess is being recognised for its hard work, and the government is committed to creating opportunities for athletes to compete at the highest level,” Ragunauth said.
Team Guyana is made up of five (5) males and an equal number of female players who qualified after competing in the numerous tournaments where they gained points according to their performances. The five top-highest cumulative scores for each gender qualified for the team.
The female team comprises: WCM Jessica Callender, Aditi Joshi, WCM Sasha Shariff, Ciel Clement, and Treskole Archibald. Meanwhile, the male team consists of CM Taffin Khan, Keron Sandiford, FM Anthony Drayton, Loris Nathoo, and Sachin Pitamber.
