Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 23, 2009 Sports
ROSE HALL TOWN, CORENTYNE – Senior National Chess Champion Kriskal Persaud is in search of persons who are will to assist in aiding him to establish chess clubs in Berbice.
It is his way of giving back to society and making the sport as popular as it was years gone by. Persaud believes there is the need for such activities to keep youths gainfully occupied.
So far a few persons have approached him but help would be needed. He is appealing to the business community for assistance to purchase chess sets and clocks. The Guyana National Champion hails from Rose Hall Town on the Corentyne.
Kriskal Persaud, who won the titles in November 2007 and 2008, is optimistic that he would hold on to that title for the third consecutive year, come November. He explained that the Chess Federation was not in operation from 1991 but was re-established in 2007.
In Guyana the sport has not been played competitively on the international arena for years.
In 2008 he approached the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports seeking a job as coach for young persons interested in the game but got no positive answer, “They want me to do it voluntarily but if I do it voluntarily, how I going to live? I have a wife and a two-year old daughter to support.”
He is disappointed since he believes that would have facilitated the opportunity for him to share his knowledge with other persons thus taking the game to another level in Berbice. Last July he got a job at a local store in New Amsterdam but his heart is set on being a chess trainer.
He has been playing chess since 1987 at the age of 12 and in 1988 became Guyana’s Junior Champion. He also represented Guyana in Trinidad in 1989 and in 1991 in Suriname, “I was the only Guyanese to win both matches in Suriname.”
On the local scene he won the Mashramani Tournament which was sponsored by the Demerara Distilleries Limited. Earlier this month he placed second in the Keishar’s Open Chess Tournament.
The first Chess club was formed in Berbice in May 2008 at the Port Mourant Community High School. At that function five chess sets were donated to the institution compliments of the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce and the New Amsterdam Rotary Club.
The idea to promote the game at school level was the brainchild of the Secretary of the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce Krishnanand Raghunandan. The Port Mourant Community High was used as the launching pad.
According to Mr. Persaud efforts are being made to set up another club in Canje. Kriskal Persaud said that chess may be a game but it assists in developing one’s thinking power and other several benefits can be derived.
He expressed his gratitude to those who have helped him over the years both morally and financially including the management of Spready’s Bakery and A. Ally and Sons General Store. He also called on persons to support him in November when he is expected to defend his title.
He boasted that he was born with the natural talent and as such he does not practice at all, “I just go and beat people just like that. From work I go home and rest I don’t have anybody to practice with. I have a brother who plays as strong as me. At a tournament in Berbice last year he won and I came in second and the Georgetown players came in third and fourth.”
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