National chess champion FM Ryan Harper and national junior champion Vishnu Singh are among a group of T&T players who will test their skills against an "invasion" of 30 opponents from the Caribbean region at the six-day Sub Zonal tournament which opened at the Ambassador Hotel, Long Circular Road, yesterday.
The event, one of the largest open international contests to be held in T&T, will also see the return of former national champion Yogendranath Ramsingh to competitive play after an absence of several years.
Also among the 30 T&T entries are former champions Marcus Joseph and Ravishen Singh, Keron Cabralis, Joshua Johnson and Alex Winter Roach.
Barbados and Jamaica are among the nine overseas countries fielding players.
Others are Bahamas, Aruba, Dominica Republic, Equador and Suriname.
Sub zonal tournaments are the first step in the qualifying programme for contesting the World Chess Championship.
They are open to all players having a FIDE rating. Participants, then, are expected to be the pick of member countries.
Players taking the first four places in the Sub Zonal qualify automatically to play in the next level, the Zonals. Winners then move on to the Interzonals and Candidates.
The Sub Zonal, then, is a significant test for T&T players as it presents them with an opportunity to face leading players in the region, improve their FIDE rating and earn FM and even IM titles and so enhance T&T's status in the chess world.
"We have players with the talent to win honours in this contest," said Sonja Johnson, PRO of the T&T Chess Association.
She expressed the Association's gratitude to the Ministry of Tourism and First Citizens Asset Management for their sponsorship.
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