The shock withdrawal of junior chess star Keron Cabralis from the current national championship finals is an unfortunate occurrence for several reasons. Not only does it reduce the strength and interest of this premier contest but it also slows down the momentum of a career that seems headed for great things.
Additionally, it reflects badly on the T&T Chess Association for not appreciating the status of an event which climaxes the annual national chess championship contest. The choice of the venue, St Georges College, Barataria, which is being blamed indirectly for this regrettable episode, was obviously a bad one.
Whoever made it clearly did not have the good sense to investigate its suitability for holding the country’s foremost chess event which, above everything else, requires absolute serenity and a total absence of surrounding distractions. As it happened, on the morning of October 15, at the start of the finals, members of the college’s cadet corps were training in an adjoining area, creating what was described as a noisy disturbance which young Cabralis claimed prevented him from concentrating on his game.
The 16-year-old St Mary’s College student, during his first round encounter against Esan Wiltshire, complained about the problem to his father, Quintin Cabralis, on three occasions. Cabralis snr relayed his son’s complaint to tournament director Bhisham Soondarsingh who attempted to have the noise abated but apparently without success.
The response of the cadets was that they would be finishing their training exercise soon. But by that time young Cabralis was apparently so disturbed that he decided to pack up and withdraw from the tournament. Relating the incident to Double Rooks, who was not at the opening session, Cabralis snr described the noise emanating from the cadets as “excessive.” In was his view that, at the very least, the game between his son and Wiltshire, another young qualifier, should be replayed. A former president of the T&TCA, Cabralis strongly condemned the choice of venue for the finals and wondered why the standards he had set for such major chess events could not be maintained.
He recalled that under his presidency, the national finals were held at the Cascadia hotel, St Ann's, the John S Donaldson Institute and Algico Plaza where all the amenities and proper ambience required for such a pre-eminent chess event were provided. On the other hand, however, reactions from other finalists with respect to the level of cadet noise differed considerably from Cabralis' complaint. In fact, it seems, no other participant felt discommoded by it. FM Ryan Harper, who is defending his national title, was surprised at Cabralis' withdrawal as he insisted that “there was hardly any noise at all.” Harper, also T&TCA second vice president, said he consulted with a number of other players, including FM Mario Merritt, Marcus Joseph, Ravishen Singh and Alex Winter Roach and none of them found the level of noise disturbing.
With respect to the actual game, Harper, who was sitting close by, felt that Cabralis had “a slight positional advantage” but, since he was the exchange down, the eventual outcome was far from obvious.
The champion, however, agreed strongly with Cabralis about the “horrible” choice of venue for the finals, noting its poor location and the state of its toilets. It was not the kind of place to which he would want to invite the sponsors PKF who were underwriting the entire national championship series. Venue for the finals has now been transferred to the Students Art Centre, UWI, but it would seem to Double Rooks that the faux pas of the Barataria choice should be thoroughly investigated by the Association. As far as the status of the sport is concerned, there is an important lesson to be learned.
So what’s next for Keron Cabralis? The youngest FM in the Caribbean, he has already amassed an unprecedented bundle of achievements and is now one of the country’s best prospects for breaking into the company of international masters. Winning the national title on his fourth attempt, or even placing at the top, would certainly have been another important step for the 16-year old. It would have assured him a place at the next Olympiad where, apart from gaining honours for T&T, he would have the opportunity to edge even closer to the International Master norm.
-Carl Jacob
Source: www.guardian.co.tt