President Dr Irfaan Ali, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Education Minister Priya Manickchand, GCF Executive members and players took a photo opportunity with Grandmaster Nigel Short
State House was a buzz of activity on Tuesday afternoon following a visit from England Chess Grandmaster Nigel Short.
Short, in a series of exhibition matches, faced 20 Guyanese chess players simultaneously at the State House benab, prior to which the Grandmaster, along with Executives of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF), met with President Dr. Irfaan Ali.
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Motley, visiting State House on other matters, was also present at the engagement.
Scenes from the simultaneous exhibition games involving Grandmaster Nigel Short
Short, the FIDE director for chess development, opposed Guyanese chess players from as young as nine years old to as old as 30 years old.
The former World #3-ranked player started his campaign just after 5pm, and was completely engaged for the first 2 hours of the exhibition as the Guyana side fought valiantly to scratch out an advantage over the Grandmaster.
He played against former Open National Champion CM Taffin Khan, FM Anthony Drayton, Davion Mars, Roberto Neto, Ethan Lee, WCM Sheriffa Alli, Jessica Callender, Nellisha Johnson, 2022 National Women’s Champion Pooja Lam, 2022 Junior Champion Ricardo Narine, 2023 Under-14 Open Champion Kyle Couchman, 2023 U14 Girl’s Champion Anaya Lall, 2023 National U-12 Champion Aquilani Swaminadha; Keron Sandiford, Sasha Shariff, Micaiah Enoe, Ronan Lee, Mayas Khan and siblings Alexander and Nicholas Zhang.
At about 8pm, at the beginning of hour 3, the pins sadly began to fall, and it was all over by 9pm with the final capitulation of CM Taffin Khan.
The best game in the exhibition was said to be against Anthony Drayton.
Tensions were high as player after player battled for a chance to edge victory over one of the best chess players in the world. Outstanding games from 9-year-old Aquilani Swaminadha, 12-year-old Anaya Lall and 16-year-old Ronan Lee, who kept the Grandmaster engaged for the entirety of the event, outlasting almost all of their more experienced peers.
Candidate Master Taffin Khan, notably one of Guyana’s most decorated chess players, held on the longest. Only after a long and suspenseful three hours did he finally concede and let the final king fall, leaving former world championship finalist Short with a clean sweep.
Judging from what he witnessed on Tuesday, Grandmaster Short praised the Federation for progress made so far in advancing chess, noting that he sees potential for Guyanese players to eventually be on par with players from global powerhouses for the sport, such as Russia. He added that he also hopes to see Guyana become a regional powerhouse for the sport.
President Irfaan Ali donates $1M for chess development
Meanwhile, during the Federation’s engagement with President Ali, it was confirmed that there would be a donation of one million dollars to the Guyana Chess Federation. This was said to be in the interest of encouraging and supporting the GCF in taking chess to all corners of the country.
The simultaneous exhibition was sponsored by Arrowten, Marics, Mobile Lubricants, Topco, Diamond Water and Digicom. As such, the GCF wishes to express gratitude to its sponsors for enabling the Federation to host the event at State House. Foremost of those well-wishers was His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who granted the use of State House for the activity.
In addition to Tuesday afternoon’s activity, Short was expected to interact with other chess players and members of the public at the Amazonia Mall at Providence, East Bank Demerara on Wednesday afternoon.
