Grandmaster, Nigel Short will face 20 Guyanese chess player at the same time this afternoon at State House. In this thrilling exhibition event, local players will be granted the rare opportunity to showcase their skill and strategies against a seasoned champion known for battling the best player in the world.
At just 10 years old, GM Short himself competed in a simultaneous exhibition where he defeated Victor Korchnoi (a soviet-swiss grandmaster considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion). This was when he started gaining recognition as a prodigy and subsequently rose to dominate English chess in the 80s and 90s, culminating in a challenge for the World Championship in 1993.
In the exhibition match, he will take on well known players such as 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 and 2022 University of Guyana Champions Keron Sandiford and Sasha Shariff.
Young and emerging talents in the chess community such as Micaiah Enoe, Ronan lee, Mayas Khan and siblings Alexander and Nicholas Zhang were also granted spots to play.
The Guyana Chess Federation said in a statement today that it is happy to host GM Short. As the FIDE Director of Chess Development, GM Short is here to promote chess as a sport in Guyana and offer advice about chess in education programmes through the implementation of sustainable systems which can have long-term benefits for children and adults alike.
As part of his brief visit to Guyana, the ex-world chess championship finalist will also engage local chess enthusiasts at a meet and greet on Wednesday April 19th at the Amazonia Mall from 3pm to 5pm sponsored by Jade’s Wok. Members of the public are all invited.
Guyana Standard understands that this Simultaneous Exhibition has been sponsored by Arrowten, Marics, Mobile Lubricants, Topco, Diamond Water and Digicom. Special thanks was also extended organizers to President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali for granting the use of State House for the hosting of the Simultaneous Chess Exhibition.
