THOMAS Lands based Queen’s College ‘A’ (QC) came from behind to dethrone the defending champions St. Stanislaus College and at the same time walk away with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) in collaboration with the National Sports Commission (NSC) sponsored Guyana Chess Federation organised National Schools’ Chess Championship yesterday.
Having ended the first day of the tournament which was contested amongst 28 schools and saw over 100 students participating, in third position behind St. Stanislaus’ ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams, the Cecil Cox led Queen’s College ‘A’ side stormed back to take the title with 6 points.
St. Stanislaus ‘B’ led by reigning national junior champion Ron Motilall finished with 51/2 while their ‘A’ team and Mae’s Academy were tied for third on 5 points each, followed by West Demerara’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ ad Queen’s College’s ‘B’ teams on 4 points each.
In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, Cox who was dethroned by Motilall in the GCF/Seven Seas national championships two weeks ago said teamwork and determination saw his team which included Devendra Singh, Elson Low and Kitfai Sue, to victory.
“Even though we entered the championship as an underdog side, we worked together as a team to come out on top. I am overjoyed and elated with this victory. All our hard work paid off for us, especially during those tough matches, when he had to come from third place.
Certainly, we deserve to be the champions, as we fought against all the odds and I do hope that this will enable our school to be placed once again in the spotlight when it comes to chess” stated Cox.
When quizzed on his plans to defend the title successfully next year, the diminutive looking Cox said in house tournaments will be held to select the best possible team that will be strong enough to repeat as champions, since he knew the other schools will be coming hard at them.
Motilall was gracious in defeat in acknowledging the areas his side went wrong, while he extended congratulations to the new champions, lauding Cox’s leadership in the process.
“I tip my hat to Cecil. He led his team well, knowing what needed to be done to gain the championship. It’s not to say we did not play well, but a few individual mistakes cost us the title.”
He continued to state, “Against QC, one of my players lost due to a beginner’s mistake, while I myself committed a blunder when I exchanged pieces in my matchup with Cox, instead of playing for a draw, which saw them (QC) attaining a win and that was the loss that was detriment to us retaining our title, as it was hard for us to get back to the top.
Nevertheless, we will be going back to the drawing board and analyse where we went wrong more deeply, in preparation for next year’s championship. Added to that, we will be using every free time whether it is early in the term, midway in the term or even at the end of the term, to conduct chess training as it is my aim, (once I am still at the school,) to take the championship trophy back to our cabinet.”
In the individual category, Su Hai Feng took the top place with 7 points from Saeed Ali (6), with Sherifa Ali, Joshua Pedro and Daniel Da Silva occupying the third position on 5 points each, followed by Anthony Drayton and Govinda Samaroo on 4 ½ points each.
All the participants were presented with a certificate of participation, while Minister of Culture Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony was on hand to assist with the distribution of prizes won and at the same time renewed his challenge to the GCF to have 100 schools competing at next year’s championship.