Chess winners rewarded

 By Avenash Ramzan

Outstanding performers of the recently concluded National Senior and Junior Chess Championships were rewarded on evening of Friday 10th December when the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) held an awards ceremony at the Carifesta Sports Complex in Georgetown.

Senior national champion Taffin Khan, and the country’s top junior chess player, Ron Motilall, were presented with their trophies by Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony, who delivered the feature address at the ceremony. 

Dr Anthony congratulated Khan and Motilall on their individual achievements, and lauded the GCF for its collective effort in ensuring the growth of the game locally. 

He said the GCF executives must be proud of their accomplishments this year, most important of which was getting several local players FIDE (International Chess Body) rated. 

However, he challenged the federation to expand the national schools’ championship, which will be held on December 18-19 at the National Gymnasium. The minister promised the ministry’s exclusive sponsorship of the event, once the GCF can attract more than 100 schools to the event. 

Tournament director of the GCF, Irshad Mohamed, who chaired the evening’s proceedings, said the executives will work vigorously to achieve that goal, although it is quite a huge undertaking. 

President of the federation, Errol Tiwari, acknowledged that the national championship is currently the biggest tournament on the chess calendar, but he expressed confidence that the schools’ championship has the potential to become the showpiece event. 

Tiwari, who also participated in the senior championship this year, admitted that the level of play was much higher than in previous years. 

In the senior championship, Khan defeated former two-time champion Kriskal Persaud in a play-off for the title. Both players had finished the maximum 14 rounds on 11.5 points. In third place was David Khan, while Learie Webster, Frankie Farley, Ryan Singh, Ron Motilall, and Errol Tiwari occupied fourth to eighth positions in that order. 

The junior championship was also decided via a playoff, with Ron Motilall upstaging defending champion Cecil Cox. Positions third to eighth were taken by Suhai Feng, Rashad Hussain, Raan Motilall, Sham Khan, Carlos Patterson, and Ryan McKay. 

The senior championship was sponsored by Neal and Massy/Seven Seas, while the junior division was taken care of by Sasha Cells.