Chess with Errol

Christ Church Secondary School student Nellisha Johnson (left), ponders as she decides on her next best move against University of Guyana graduate and the Ministry of Housing’s Shazeeda Rahim during the Engineering and Construction Incorporated (ECI) chess tournament. Nellisha resides in Orealla, some 60 miles up the Corentyne River and learnt chess in her village four years ago. She won the trophy for the Best Junior Female player in the ECI competition. (Chess photos by Ryan Singh)
Christ Church Secondary School student Nellisha Johnson (left), ponders as she decides on her next best move against University of Guyana graduate and the Ministry of Housing’s Shazeeda Rahim during the Engineering and Construction Incorporated (ECI) chess tournament. Nellisha resides in Orealla, some 60 miles up the Corentyne River and learnt chess in her village four years ago. She won the trophy for the Best Junior Female player in the ECI competition. (Chess photos by Ryan Singh)

World champions compete in Chess blitz

Last Thursday and Friday, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov opposed new US champion Fabiano Caruana, and the other two top finishers of the 2016 US championship, namely Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura, in a sensational blitz contest.

Newcomer to the local tournament circuit Calvin Giddings (right) opposes Maria Varona Thomas in the Engineering Construction Incorporated (ECI) seven-round tournament. Giddings performed creditably against Wendell Meusa and Thomas. He is a player to watch.
Newcomer to the local tournament circuit Calvin Giddings (right) opposes Maria Varona Thomas in the Engineering Construction Incorporated (ECI) seven-round tournament. Giddings performed creditably against Wendell Meusa and Thomas. He is a player to watch.

Newcomer is player to watch

At the start of the Engineering Construction Incorporated (ECI) chess competition two Saturdays ago, this column enquired whether the tournament should be considered the elimination one for the selection of players for 2016 Chess Olympiad.

International chess player from Uganda Phiona Mutesi is photographed holding the chess queen in her palm, her favourite chess piece. A Disney film about Mutesi’s road to becoming an accomplished chess player, The Queen of Katwe starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, is set to be released in September. Mutesi has inspired a fair number of young women to play chess.
International chess player from Uganda Phiona Mutesi is photographed holding the chess queen in her palm, her favourite chess piece. A Disney film about Mutesi’s road to becoming an accomplished chess player, The Queen of Katwe starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, is set to be released in September. Mutesi has inspired a fair number of young women to play chess.

Disney film about triumph-against-the-odds woman chess player for release in September

Disney Pictures will release a film later this year about the life of Ugandan chess sensation Phiona Mutesi, starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o.

Student of the Orealla Secondary School, Veral Felix, 15, smiles as he is rewarded with a trophy for placing second in the individual category of the Sixth Berbice Inter-School Chess Championship held in November at the Manchester Secondary School. Presenting the trophy is Berbice High School teacher Zahir Moakan (right). Veral travelled to the chess competition from Orealla in the Berbice river with his mother, starting out at 11 o’clock at night by boat.

Still waiting for the chess federation

A beleaguered local chess federation, failing in its ability to organize a national junior chess championship and its senior counterpart, in addition to two national school chess championships over the past two years, seems to be stirring some reaction among our youthful precocious chess minds.

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