Play Chess Like Michelangelo Painted

I love this man's endless passion for chess. Chess tournament on today With Errol Tiwari Sunday, September 2nd 2007 If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. - Martin Luther King Jnr This is what chess players strive to do every time they face their opponents over the chess board. They strive to play as Michelangelo painted. They strive to become grandmasters. They strive to find the unflawed sequences. They strive to play the perfect moves. This is why the promotion of chess in our beloved country must never stop. The game builds character. It is anchored to a platform of social development. And it is there over the chess board that people meet, and minds compete. Chess has not as yet entered into the national consciousness. We are in the pioneering stages of the game's development, but I sincerely believe - and I am fiercely patriotic about this - that chess will become a national pastime in Guyana, and as popular a sport as cricket. Albert Einstein described an idea well when he said: "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." I am inspired, therefore, that the idea will prevail and the movement for chess promotion will get stronger, more popular and gain momentum. There is no turning back. Chess is a fair game. It has equality. I have eight pawns and eight pieces, and you have eight pawns and eight pieces. We share the battlefield of 64 squares. Nothing is hidden. Nothing is left to chance. We both have the same opportunities for winning. Already in Guyana, talent is beginning to emerge. Twenty-year-old Ronuel Greenidge from Lodge is dangerous on the chess board. He is cool and deadly. So is Learie Webster from West Demerara. The two will clash today in a chess tournament at the Carifesta Sports Complex, and in the words of Loris Nathoo, the game represents "a classic confrontation of two local minds." Greenidge trains daily on the computer. In a complicated position on the chess board , if you ask the computer to find the best possible continuations and it gives three moves, Greenidge is going to find and play one of those moves analysing on his own. He is going to be very hard to beat. Webster, as opposed to Greenidge, is more a self-made player. He relies on his intuition and can see the hidden aspects of a position. His strength lies in the combinations that he plays. He shakes them out of his shirt sleeves. He explodes a quiet position with a sacrificial combination that has everyone running to his chess board and his opponent confused with uncertainty. In addition to Greenidge, he plays me as well in the tournament today. The Greenidge-Nathoo encounter also promises a lot of violence on the board. Nathoo is just as careful a player as Greenidge. This is his strength. He pounces on the mistakes of his opponents and almost always creates a passed pawn to carry to the Queening square in the endgame. In the Intermediate Section, Sheriffa Ali is off with flying colours. She is the only female participant in this category and scored three wins from three games last Sunday. She plays quickly and confidently. She finds some of the best continuations very quickly and is extremely sharp in the middlegame. I tell her to develop her pieces quickly and not to embark on adventurous excursions with her Queen. I tell her to wait and combinations would flow naturally. The tournament begins at 9 am and four games will be played.