King and Queen Chess Competition commences….
The University of Guyana Sports Department staged its annual King and Queen Chess and Scrabble competitions on November 16, 2018 in the Conference Room of the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
Speaking with Guyana Times Sport, Sports Organiser Lavern Fraser said, “The chess and scrabble competitions have been annual events for the past three or four years. It is an individual event, because a king and queen are usually crowned”.
Fraser said the main purpose of the annual competition is to facilitate the needs of other students who are more inclined to sporting activities that require a lot of brain power, as compared to the other students who are involved in cricket, basketball and rugby at the University level.
She also said the University of Guyana provides opportunity for students to excel not just academically, but also to get involved in extracurricular activities, as it was seen to be the correct forum to cater to the needs of the students.
Fraser further said, “I must also say that the main objective of the University is to register with the Guyana National Chess Association so that the University of Guyana can participate as an entity in chess competitions, and hopefully also provide that kind of opportunity for students to be able to compete, not only locally, but also regionally and internationally”.
Fraser noted that even at University games in Central America and the Caribbean, chess is one of the sports that are usually contested at a high level. She said that, come next year, based on the turnout of persons interested in the sport, she is looking to have an inter-faculty competition which would see a lot more student participation, as she relayed the improvement she has seen in the female support this year.
Fraser also mentioned that for the past two years there has never been a female chess queen, but based on the evolution of the sport, for the first time ever, there will be a chess queen.
For the Scrabble competition, Komal Hukumchand was defeated by Jaffar Gibbons, while Francisca Persaud lost to Feona Jones. As the scrabble concluded, eager chess fans witnessed fan favourites and underdogs come out on top to advance to the next round of the competition.
In the chess competition, which was played the best two out of three games, Joshua Gopaul defeated Tristan Carter, while Andre Jagnandan defeated Obeng Quamina; and for the first time in the female league, Anicia Patterson defeated Unique Persaud.
After the competition ended, the two winners drew to play one of the top four, which resulted in Andre Jagnandan playing the 2nd seeded Rondell Palmer and Joshua Gopaul playing the 3rd seeded Tristan Cordis.
The competition will continue on Wednesday at the University of Guyana, as all chess players will be vying to play the defending champion, Davion Mars. (Timothy Jaikarran)
