Guyana’s young chess players finally got into some international action over the weekend as the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Youth World Cup tournament got underway.
Guyana’s Jacob Mc Donald
The FIDE Youth and Cadet World Cup commenced on Sunday, August 1, 2021, with the youngest age group going into action.
The first to do battle was the Guyana Under-10 team, competing in the open category. The team comprises Aquilani Swaminadha, Julian Mohabir, (both of School of the Nations); Mae’s Schools’ Nicholas Zhang, and Nations’ Jacob Mc Donald.
The 11:00h start to the online tournament on Sunday was supervised by Team Captain and National Champion Taffin Khan and FIDE Arbiter John Lee, who organised the technical aspect of the preparation.
Prior to the in-game action, the competitors and officials witnessed a welcome by FIDE Vice President Akaki Lashvili at the opening ceremony. The tournament has more than 1600 participants from over 100 Federations worldwide, ready to match their skills internationally.
The first round of the 10-round tournament produced highly competitive games with Zhang coming closest to a victory, but falling short. With no wins for Guyana in the first round, it was time for Jacob Mac Donald to shine with a smart victory over a FIDE-rated opponent Calleja Urry Nick from the Republic of Malta.
This victory is expected to bring some encouragement and inspiration to the team in the ensuing days of the tournament, when play continues. This division’s games will continue every day until Thursday, August 5.
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) last month selected a 22-member team to represent Guyana in the Youth and Cadet World Cup in five categories. Guyana’s participants will fall into the Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 Open categories.
This international tournament will be a 10-round Swiss, and could see the top players gaining entry to FIDE’s Online Rapid Super Final 2021 and the FIDE Online Rapid Grand Prix Series 2021.
