THE Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) yesterday announced that with the increase of cases of COVID-19 throughout the region, a decision was made to postpone the April 10-13 CARIFTA Junior Chess Tournament, which was scheduled for Guyana.

“We will be monitoring the progress of the pandemic with the hope of soon seeing a downward trend in the infection curve,” the Federation said in a release.

The tournament hosted by the Guyana Chess Federation, in association with the Confederation of Chess for the Americas, was set to take place at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel and attracted about 125 players from 10 Caribbean nations as well as Suriname.

The organising committee has been in contact with the principle stakeholders who have expressed their full support for GCF’s decision and have agreed to extend the franchise to a later date.

Guyana plans to field 100 players from six years old to 19 years old, all of whom have been training or playing development tournaments for the past few months. The majority of these players are the products of the Guyana Chess Federation’s Chess in Schools programme..

Formal training sessions over the past weeks have been cancelled, but the National coaches have organised online training and online tournaments to keep players’ skills sharp.

“We wish to assure all of our sponsors, players and their parents or caregivers that the 9th CARIFTA Junior Chess Championships will be held in Guyana and will be conducted with the health and safety of all players, delegates and officials as our primary priority,” the Chess Federation noted.

The organising committee plans to use this time to review all arrangements, hopefully, to attract new sponsors and to provide extended training for our junior players.