National blitz online competition set for Feb 5
Guyana’s finest chess players, including a list of imaginative juniors, will compete in the 2022 National Blitz Online Chess Championship on Saturday February 5 from 2 pm. The time control for the championship is five minutes plus a one-second increment per game.
The competition is open to players resident in Guyana and registration is compulsory. Registration forms are available at Guyanachess.org. The championship entry fee of $2,000 is waived for all Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) members, and the tournament will be conducted on the Tornelo.com platform.
During April 2020, Irshad Mohamad won a Blitz Championship and Loris Nathoo was the runner-up. However, in the last quarter of last year, Nathoo emerged victorious at another blitz tournament. He successfully took down all of his opponents.
For this championship, the field is expected to include national champion Taffin Khan, Wendell Meusa, Anthony Drayton and Davion Mars, some of the strongest local blitz players and some promising juniors. Ever since the emergence of COVID-19, blitz chess has become widely significant and hugely popular. For the 2022 National Blitz Championship, monetary prizes and trophies will be distributed.
Meanwhile, the New GPC Inc has contributed $100,000 to the GCF’s Online Chess Education Programme. The donation will enable a number of children to purchase premium gold licences on Chesskid.com, the platform which is used by the GCF to introduce children to the game of chess. With the donation, 31 children will have access to Chesskid.com for free to learn from tutors, solve chess puzzles and engage other players from around the globe.
In other news, Chief Executive Officer of DeSinco Limited Alicia DeAbreu distributed prizes to the children who participated in the recent U-12 Championship which the company sponsored. DeSinco Ltd put a total of $150,000 toward the championship. Alexander Zhang and Kristen Xavier won the Boys and Girls’ U12 titles.