WMCF, School of the Nations prepare for chess competitions
Avid chess action will continue this weekend through tournaments hosted by the Wendell Meusa Chess Foundation’s fourth Junior Championships and School of the Nations Chess Club’s first Scholastic Competition.
The WMCF often introduces students to the game of chess at a very early age
The resuscitated School of the Nations Chess Club will host its first Chess Scholastic Competition at the school’s auditorium from 9am this Saturday. Indeed, this school is among the very few schools with a ‘Chess for Education’ programme especially catering for participants from the nursery level to the secondary level.
Not only do Nations’ students benefit from the “Chess for Education” programme, but the chess club also runs an extracurricular activity in this regard for students, who are mostly trained by FIDE National Instructor Candidate Master (CM) Wendell Meusa.
The tournament’s format will be 5 rounds, with 30 minutes per player. Categories are as follows: 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15. Nations’ students, national junior players Joshua Khan and Jacob McDonald, who just represented Guyana at chess in CARIFTA, have each confirmed that they have registered to participate.Former National Champion and FIDE Candidate Master Wendell Meusa will be hosting his 4th Junior Chess Championships on 6th & 12th October, 2019 at the National Sport Resource and Racquet Center on Woolford Avenue.
The Wendell Meusa Chess Foundation is considered the “Home of Chess Champions” in Guyana, especially because they continue to train many young top national junior players. Operating since 2009 under it old name, the Royal Chess Academy, the WMCF has produced national junior champions Cecil Cox, Ron Motilall, and even Fide Master Anthony Drayton, who discovered his talent there.
With that said, the WMCF 2019 Junior Chess Championships will see participation from Guyana’s current top national juniors — such as the Lee brothers (Ethan & Ronan), Jaden Taylor, Jarrell Troyer, Chelsea Juma, the Johnson sisters (Waveny & Nellisha), Angel Rahim and Samirah Gobin.
In fact, the entire CARIFTA team should be participating, and it would be a FIDE-rated tournament, which will make it more competitive and entertaining.
The competition will comprise of 7 rounds, with one hour of sudden death time control per player. Games will start at 9am and all games will be played under the rules and laws of FIDE, National Tournament Director Rashad Hussain has said.
Registration fee is $1000 per child, and interested persons can contact Ms Clarke on 669- 4731 (Nations Chess Club Director) or Wendell Meusa on 664-0124 for more information.
