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Chess Federation selects team for World Olympiad in Georgia

May 23, 2018 Sports

The Executive Committee of the Guyana Chess Federation has selected the Guyana National Men and Women Chess Teams which will represent our nation at this 43rd World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia, slated for September 23rd – 6th October, 2018. The Guyana Chess Federation spearheaded by Attorney – At- Law Mr. James Bond, assembled a local criteria for the selection process of the teams.
The criteria of the selection process for both women and men’s teams took the following areas into consideration:
1) International Ratings of all players – 5 points
2) Performance & Participation in local and regional tournaments of all players – 4 points
3) International Titles of all players – 2 points
4) Other considerations such as potentials & discipline – 1 point
With the above criteria outline, the Executive Committee decided that the following players scored highest and will represent Guyana at this prestigious event.
National Chess Champion and National Coach CM Wendell Meusa will be playing for Guyana for the 1st time at this event. Number 1 ranked FIDE rated player CM Anthony Drayton has also been selected. It is clear beyond any doubt that Meusa and Drayton are the country’s two top players. The 3rd player selected is former Junior and Senior National Champion CM Taffin Khan. Khan has been always rated as another top player in the country and he continues to show his competitive dominance in the tournaments he’s participated in.
New to the men’s team is Mr. Loris Nathoo, who played phenomenally in this year National Championships to book his seat. Mr. Nathoo just received a big increase in his FIDE (World Chess Federation) ratings and he has been beating top players lately this year such as Meusa, Drayton and Khan. Travelling as the 5th player is Glenford Corlette, who is a regular participant in local tournaments and has been showing tremendous improvement. Based upon the criteria of the selection process, Corlette gained more points than CM Ronuel Greenidge who was the other player in consideration as the 5th player. CM Greenidge, who participated in the last two Olympiads failed to accumulate enough points to be selected.
For the women’s team, Guyana 1st FIDE Master and Women’s National Champion WFM Maria Thomas will spearhead the team along with the young but experienced CM Sheriffa Ali. It’s evident that WFM Thomas is our best female player and CM Ali continues to show improvements and dominance among women/girls in chess. Yolander Persaud booked her flight to the Olympiad as well with some fantastic chess lately. Ms. Persaud has shown great improvement since participating in the last Olympiad with WFM Thomas and CM Ali, to add some experience to the women’s team.
With the future of women/girls chess in Guyana in mind, the executive committee selected two young but aspiring chess players 16 years old Nellisha Johnson of Christ Church Secondary and 14 year old Sasha Shariff of Marian Academy. Both Johnson and Shariff have been showing a lot of improvement at local chess scenes lately. Both players have received potential FIDE ratings after their attendance at this year Carifta Chess Championships held in Paramaribo, Suriname last March. These girls have been dominating as well in Guyana National Juniors and Women’s Chess Championship 2018, which the executives thought was enough for them to gain their place on the national team.
The 43rd World Chess Olympiad is scheduled to be held in Batumi, Georgia from September 23rd – 06th October, 2018. Guyana for the first time ‘since 1980 sent a men’s team to the 2014 World Chess Olympiad held in Tromso, Norway and was successfully able to send a women’s team for the first time in the sport’s history along with the men to the last Olympiad held in 2016 in Baku, Azerbaijan. This year, the GCF intends to send both teams to this year’s Olympiad with some financial assistance from corporate Guyana and from Guyana Olympic Committee, National Sports Commission, Minister Norton Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Presidency. The Executive Committee will be hosting a few fund raising activities at a popular night spot and grounds around Georgetown to aid the process.

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