Chess players across St Vincent & the Grenadines will have a second opportunity to secure the TYRONE JACK MEMORIAL THROPHY, as the 2nd annual National Chess Championship gets going this weekend in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
National Chess Champion Chinedu Enemchukwu and Olympiad who is currently standing in the position of (conditional) FM will seek to stave off his challengers as the University of the West Indies Open Campus host the clash of the mind titans.
Some twenty five persons are expected to participate in the championship which will run from Saturday 10th – Sunday 11th December 2022 and will begin at 10 am on both days.
This years Championship is part sponsored by Bally & Bally Investment Ltd, University of the West Indies Open Campus and CG Productions.
It is anticipated that some 25 players will participate in this years’ championship which will represent an increase of 150% over the 2021 inaugural championship. For the first time there will be a youth category, this will constitute players 18 years and under.
For the second time around the championship will be led by Chairman of Competitions and Development Sub-committee Mr Brian Cottle who is also a national team member and Chess Olympiad who is currently a (conditional) CM as Arbiter.
A number of students will participate in this years’ championship whilst others are expected with the encouragement of the Ministry of Education.
The 2022 edition of the championship will see a new feature designed to educate beginning players. The Federation will have an education corner at the games and will teach non players the very basics of the game. This will benefit teachers and students alike. Teachers who will like to become chess trainers can attend to begin to learn the game to teach it at their respective schools. A youth Chess wizard will receive a prize following an assessment on Sunday 11th December 2022.
Players will be awarded with trophies, cash prizes and national titles.
The St Vincent and the Grenadines Chess Federation hopes to use this National Championship to identify a group of youth players from which players will be selected to represent St. Vincent & the Grenadines at regional and international championships.
The closing ceremony takes place on Sunday 11th December 2022 and will hear remarks from sponsors, Officials of the Chess Federation and others.
The FIDE Youth Under 16 Olympiad is the next international fixture for the SVGCF. This means that our current batch of your players and prospective players have an opportunity to get themselves ready to compete on the international youth Chess stage.
The tournament is also expected to identify a list of senior players from which the national team will be selected for the FIDE Olympiad to take place in Budapest, Hungary in 18 months’ time.
The current national champion is Chinedu Enemchukwu who was captain of Team SVG Chess which represented Sint Vincent & the Grenadines in the FIDE Chess Olympiad which took place in Chennai, India between July and August 2022.
The SVG Chess Federation hopes to kick off its calendar with the first ever Chatoyer International invitational. This will bring at least four (4) GM (Grandmasters) of chess to the shores by special invitation and a host of other regional and international players. The top award will be the His Excellency Joseph Chatoyer trophy.
The invitational championship is expected to give publicity to St Vincent & the Grenadines as a tourism destination whilst at the same time expose the local players and spectators to an international standard competition.