Chess with Errol - Page 21 of 34

Varona-Thomas becomes first Woman FIDE Master

Cuban-Guyanese Maria Varona-Thomas has become the first Woman FIDE Master (WFM) from Guyana, following her successful participation at the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Haifeng Su, in photo, one of Guyana’s successful chess players at the conclusion of round six of the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Azerbaijan. There are five rounds yet to be played in the competition. Su, playing board No 4, scored victories against opponents from Guatemala and Fiji, and achieved draws with representatives from Guernsey and Malta. Taffin Khan, playing board two, also garnered 3 points for Guyana with two wins and two draws (a win = 1 point; a draw = 1/2 point; a loss = 0 point). Guyana played Bermuda on Friday in its 7th round match.

India takes the lead

Following the conclusion of round six of the 42nd Chess Olympiad currently in progress in Baku, Azerbaijan, India’s men have taken the lead ahead of such behemoths as Russia, the US, China, Ukraine and the Netherlands.

The culturally rich opening ceremony of the 42nd Chess Olympiad took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday evening. A number of Azerbaijan’s renowned artists, choreographers and composers lent their artistry to what could be described as a grand spectacle. The ceremony featured some aspects of the chess tradition in Azerbaijan. Guyana is there with a male and female chess team among the 181 nations that are participating. In the photo, our female team highlights the Guyana flag which was carried during the ceremony. From left, Jessy Clementson, Sherrifa Ali, Yolander Persaud, Maria Thomas and Julia Clementson.

Guyana is represented at the 42nd Olympiad

These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.

Guyana team leaves for Baku Olympiad

The Guyana Chess Olympiad team leaves for Baku, Azerbaijan, this week to attend the 42nd Chess Olympiad.

Roberto Neto, 19, (left) is a member of the 2016 Guyana Olympiad chess team. A newcomer to the game, he enjoyed some robust successes by defeating the senior and junior national champions on occasion. Although he only began playing the game in 2010, Neto has been competing regularly in tournaments and has become a prominent fixture in competitions. In this photograph, he faces St Stanislaus’ student Gansham Alijohn in a recent tournament.

So wins Sinquefield Cup

The intriguing Sinquefield Cup, the elite grandmaster chess tournament which featured seven of the world’s top 10 players has been completed, with a resounding victory for the US’s Wesley So.

Guyana’s Chess Olympiad players will have opportunity to see grandmasters in action

Following six rounds of scintillating chess, the Sinquefield Cup is off to a brilliant start in St Louis, Missouri.

Yolander Persaud, 25, has been named captain and player of the 2016 Guyana Women’s Chess Olympiad team by the Guyana Chess Federation. Persaud accompanied the Guyana Olympiad chess team to the Tromso Olympiad in 2014. She attended the Instructors and Arbiters’ seminars in Tromso where she qualified for a Development Instructor’s licence and was awarded a FIDE Arbiter International Certificate following her success in the FIDE examination.

World class players at Sinquefield Chess Cup

“Once every four years, the world goes to war. They call it the games.”

Guyana's national chess player Anthony Drayton (left) opposes a Jamaican colleague during the 2014 FIDE-sponsored Umada Cup which was held here. Drayton had just returned from the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway, where he achieved the coveted Candidate Master title. He is representing Guyana at the 2016 Chess Olympiad in September in Baku, Azerbaijan where he will seek additional honours on behalf of himself and his country and himself.

Popular arguments against having chess in the Olympics don’t hold up

The mind game of chess was among 26 sport disciplines which had applied for recognition as an Olympic Sport at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

Representing Guyana at the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan, is Jessica Clementson, 20, founder of the Georgetown-based U-Knighted Chess Club. The U-Knighted Chess Club has its origins in the School of the Nations where she was a student. Clementson learnt to play the game in 2009, and has experience teaching chess to underprivileged kids in the Albouystown area. She represented Guyana at the Inter-Guiana Games and the School of the Nations in the National Inter-Schools Championships.

Carlsen, Karjakin play to disappointing draw in Masters final

The final game between world chess champion Magnus Carlsen and his world championship challenger Sergey Karjakin ended disappointingly in a draw after 19 moves at the 2016 Bilbao Masters Final in Spain on Thursday.

Students of St Stanislaus College kibitzing (playing chess for fun) on a cloudy Sunday afternoon at the National Resource Centre during the recent Andrew Arts Memorial chess tournament. The students on the right are: Ghansham Alijohn, John Wong and Jessica Callendar. On the left, playing the black pieces, is Jaden Taylor. Standing next to him is senior member of the Guyana Chess Federation David Khan.

Nakamura defeats Carlsen in Masters shocker

Six of the finest chess players on the planet, led by world champion Magnus Carlsen, are doing battle in the Masters Final in Bilbao, Spain.

Taffin Khan, winner of the Andrew Arts Memorial Chess Tournament which ended last weekend

Chess enjoying unprecedented boom

Chess is enjoying an unprecedented boom in the capital city much of it because there was open criticism over the manner in which the 2016 Guyana Olympiad chess team was chosen.

Sheriffa Ali (right) smiles as she opposes Frankie Farley during their game at the Andrew Arts Memorial Chess Tournament last Sunday at the National Resource Centre. Ali is a member of the 2016 Olympiad chess team which represents Guyana in Azerbaijan in September. She has been playing competitively for the past decade, and should do well at the Olympiad. On her right is her brother Saeed Ali. (Photo by Ryan Singh)

Chess is fascinating and complicated

“I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I’ve led a common life.

Director of Sport Christopher Jones and President of the Guyana Chess Federation Irshad Mohammed (centre) stand with some members of the 2016 Guyana Olympiad chess team. The team travels to Baku, Azerbaijan, for participation at the Olympiad in September. A signature qualifying tournament was not held to determine the members of Guyana’s Olympiad chess team.

Federation picks chess Olympiad team without holding qualifier

The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) has decided upon a 2016 Guyana Olympiad chess team without hosting a qualification competition to determine the competence of its participants.

Prime Minister Forbes Burnham engaging member of the Guyana Chess Federation John Lewis over a game of chess at his Vlissengen Road residence in 1975. Burnham established the Guyana Chess Association in 1972.

Can we return to the glory days of chess?

There was a promising time in Guyana following the creation of the chess association in the early 1970s, when the nation benefited from men who demonstrated commitment to the game, integrity, and polish.

As Soviet grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi (right) completed his moves during the 1983 World Chess Championship semifinal in London, Garry Kasparov took notes, according to the New York Times. At 85, Korchnoi passed on in Switzerland on June 6.

Russian chess grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi dies

“In all of history you cannot find another player with his long-lived discipline, vigour and ferocity,” Garry Kasparov, writing in Viktor Korchnoi’s autobiography Chess is my Life.

Ranked within the top ten of the chess world, US grandmaster Fabiano Caruana (in photo) leads the rigorous Vugar Gashimov Memorial Tournament in Azerbaijan. The tournament ends today

Chess Federation hosts rushed independence competition

Last Sunday morning, the illegal Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) strolled without purpose in its usual manner, into the meeting room of the National Resource Centre.

What if Guyana hosted the Umada Cup?

Event: The Umada Cup Location: Georgetown, Guyana Host: Guyana Chess Federation Date: Someday in the future Preamble: The Umada Cup is the premier Caribbean chess championship competition which is held annually, and is sponsored by FIDE, the governing body of world chess.

Nigel Short vs Joel Benjamin, London, 1977.
White to play and win
White played: Rh7+ Kxh7 Qe7+

Stalemate in local chess administration

The word stalemate has its origins in chess. It represents a drawing position in which only the king can move, and although not in check, can move only into check.

Frankie Farley (in photo) examines the chess board for flaws to his move sequence before he commits to his next move. Farley is contesting the presidency of the Guyana Chess Federation. He is the CEO of Silicon Green Inc and has experience in managing local and foreign companies. Frankie is a veteran chess player and is committed to popularizing the enduring mind game among Guyanese.

Chess federation AGM called off

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.

Farley for President! Darkly handsome, and exuding an air of assuredness whenever he sits at the chessboard, Frankie Farley (in photo), feels his imminent obligation is sharing his expertise with the younger generation of chess players. He theorizes there is a chess grandmaster sauntering around in our midst, but we have to find him or her. Farley is, therefore, seeking the distinguished presidency of the Guyana Chess Federation, with the intention of creating ‘a new beginning’ for chess aficionados; a beginning of confidence, trust and faith.

Frankie Farley throws hat in the ring for chess federation presidency

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. – Winston Churchill Assuredly, demonstrating a negative attitude with clear absences of transparency, prime examples of high-handedness and pellucid cases of disinterest is tantamount to courting disaster, and has contributed the demise of many.