Reflections on Guyana’s performance at the 2022 Olympiad
The Guyana team played admirably at the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India and it’s time for some reflections.
To start the ball rolling, in the first round, Anthony Drayton vanquished his opponent who was an International Master from Andorra. Drayton was FIDE-rated close to 2000 while his opponent was rated close to 2500. It was a remarkable achievement on Drayton’s behalf.
Some 40 years ago, Gordon Broomes had outplayed an International Master from Brussels at the Olympiad. Drayton deserves a round of applause from all of us for repeating that extraordinary feat. From his nine games, Drayton scored 5½ points, losing three and drawing one.
Taffin Khan played Board One for Guyana. The person who plays Board One must face the best of the best on participating teams. Usually this is so, but sometimes there are some exceptions when the Board One player switches places to give another a turn on the top board. The Olympiad rules allow for this. But generally speaking, the finest chess players are cemented on the top boards of the world. Khan played his full quota of 11 games, winning three and drawing three. He lost five games.
Guyana’s opponents were all higher rated. This meant they had been engaged in more FIDErated tournaments than the Guyanese and had faced superior-ranked opponents on a regular basis.