Guyana is being noticed at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, which ends tomorrow. As stated in an earlier publication, in a Round 7 match against the seasoned chess playing African nation of Cote d’Ivoire, Guyana’s four-member open team scored three victories. Anthony Drayton, Loris Nathoo and Queen’s College student Sachin Pitamber were the winners for Guyana.
It is commendable the victories were against participants with higher FIDE rankings. Nathoo (1786) for example, won against Candidate Master Yoboue Hermann Manan (2030). However, Taffin Khan (2066) lost his game to Nicolas Cogan (2112).
In these team championship matches, countries put their highest rated players on Board One. Therefore, it is much more difficult to secure a victory. I followed Khan’s game until it reached a knight and pawn ending. Khan lost because he was a pawn down and his opponent’s knight was more centralised.
Guyana’s women’s team drew its Round 7 match with Equatorial Guinea. Treskole Archibald was the lone player who won her game. Sasha Shariff and Aditi Joshi drew their games while Ciel Desiree Clement lost her encounter.
India is leading the points table for the gold medal.
