The work to promote chess must continue
Now that the matter of the ousting of Frankie Farley from the presidency of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) is being addressed by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), we should continue with the business of circulating the game of chess to the general public. We have a long mountain to climb if we intend to make chess a national pastime, or as close to it as possible.
The Chess Olympiad is a sure way of gaining titles for our players, and, therefore, we should not wait until an Olympiad year comes around to begin our preparations. On the contrary, we should get on with the business of tournaments and continue to groom our juniors to become more skillful as Marcia Lee and Anand Raghunauth have been doing over the years. These two officials of the GCF have donated a lot of their time to stimulate the popularity of chess. The latest is having it played at the Giftland Mall on Saturdays; senior players encourage the public through the hosting of simultaneous exhibitions.
As an aside, our juniors can only become stronger chess players when they face off in tournament chess, though we have been doing this. Ethan Lee, 19, played well at the 2022 Olympiad in India against much stronger opposition. And the female team, all juniors, did the same. Guyana is looking forward to the 2024 Chess Olympiad.
Meanwhile, on the international scene, America’s Hikaru Nakamura is the new Fischer Random World Champion. He defeated Ian Nepomnianchtchi in an Armageddon following a 2=2 tie. World champion Magnus Carlsen was third. A previous world champion, Bobby Fischer, invented the Random game.