LEADING FIDE and Candidate Masters from five nations will face up against each other from today, when the prestigious fifth annual Umada Cup chess tournament is hosted by the Guyana Chess Federation for the first time.

The Sleepin International Hotel on Brickdam is the venue for what is anticipated to be five days of intense rivalry among the elite chess players in this part of the globe, with the tournament set to conclude on Monday.

It is being contested in two categories; one for players in the Open Section and another for those in the Challenger Section and both categories will be played under the Swiss System for nine rounds and will be FIDE rated.

Up to press time yesterday, 10 Guyanese players had registered to compete in the tournament amongst whom are Wendell Meusa, Anthony Drayton, Ronuel Greenidge, Hai-Feng Su, Jessica Clementson, Glenford Corlette, Roberto Neto, Davion Mars, Kriskal Persaud and Taffin Khan.

Suriname has also entered 10 players, namely Roder Matoewi, Romario Sanchez, Frank Lo Kim Lin, Joel Frijde, Reyna Frijde, Avikaar Malgie, Geryen Dos Ramos, Kevin Finkie, Alicia Jaipersaud and Ishwar Ramlal.

Trinidad and Tobago will be represented by six players and they are Vishnu Singh, Ryan Harper, Kevin Cupid, Esan Wiltshire, Frank Sears and Mikel Martin. Jamaica’s three representatives are Andrew Mellace, Ras Malaku Lorne and Deborah Richards- Porter.

The Dominican Republic’s flag will be carried by Christopher Guzman and Darvi Crispin Ferreras, while Barbados’ lone player is Martyn Del Castilo.

The tournament will be officially declared open at 10:00 hours today by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony at the Sleepin International Hotel before the players swing into action on the chess boards.

The tournament, according to GCF president Irshad Mohamed, is being organised under the auspices of current president of FIDE, the world governing body for chess, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and has a grand payout package of US$16,000 at stake.

In the Open Section, the winner will cart off US$2,500, while the second and third place finishers will pocket US$1,500 and US$1,000 respectively, with the winner of the Challenger Section receiving US$1,500, and runner-up copping US$1,000 and third US$750 and in the case of a tie, the sum of the prizes involved will be shared equally.