Mars eager for Chess Olympiads 2020

By Timothy Jaikarran

Having experienced the sweet taste of success at the University Games in Colombia, from which he emerged with three bronze medals earned in the Blitz, Classical and Rapids categories of the chess competition, Davion Mars has now set his focus on the 2020 Russia Olympiads.
This young and upcoming chess star thinks the recently concluded University Games in Colombia have prepared him for what he would most likely have to face in Russia; and changes in the climate and food would definitely be major factors.
Speaking with <<Guyana Times Sport>>, Mars said, “The first thing that really took us by surprise was the temperature, which resonated somewhere between 8 and 13 degrees. We were informed of the climate before we left, but experiencing it first hand was an entirely different story altogether. Even though I packed cold weather clothing, I picked up a terrible headache on the first day. It stayed with me for most of the first few days, and of course it affected my mental endurance for much of the classical games.
“I’m not I’m saying this to take (anything) away from our competitors. We were up against seasoned opposition whom we all held in the highest regard. There was International Master, Candidate Master, Fide Master, and untitled players much of whom rated over 2000.
“To paint a perspective of the strength of our opposition, our highest rated national player, FM Anthony Drayton, is only rated 2007, and is the only Guyanese to break the 2000 barrier. The majority of the competition there was either a tad below his level or towering above.”
Mars has said he would be eager to make the 2020 Olympiads, since he has missed the previous four due to one constraint or the other.
This vibrant chess player told this publication that he has followed a lot of Grandmaster tournaments and post-game analyses to get a grasp of what consciously separates them from average chess players, and to learn their insights, the fuel of their thought mechanisms, and how they manage to maintain such iron-clad composure in high-intensity and high-stress situations.