SVG selects all female Chess team for Olympiad

Within three years of being inducted into the International Chess Federation (FIDE), St Vincent and the Grenadines will be entering an all-female team at its second Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, from September 10 to 23, 2024.

Having debuted with an open team to the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, in 2022, St Vincent and Grenadines (SVG) enters a new frontier as the all-female team of Ronnia Durham-Balcombe, Arianna Balcombe, Molissa Ashton, Orisia Robinson and Rebecca Izuchukwu prepares to attend the Olympiad. Russel Taylor of Jamaica, travels as coach.

Elated by the accomplishment of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Chess Federation (SVGCF) since its induction, President , Israel Bruce, lauded the entry of the all-female team. “This is history…this will be for the very first time …they are ambassadors,” he noted, adding that once they give of their best it “would be satisfactory enough for the nation”.

Bruce, underscoring the strides made by the SVGCF with St Vincent and the Grenadines now having a reasonable ranking, said, “When we left for India, we were ranked at the bottom of the table… As we head into the Budapest tournament, St Vincent and the Grenadines is at 184…. For a Federation that has just joined the international body and to have clawed our way to position 184 in the world, is a big feat.”

Joining Bruce in celebrating the entry of the females into the Olympiad, team member, Durham- Balcombe, who is also the Chair of the Women and Girls Development sub-committee, and Vice President of the SVGCF, said: “We have been exposed to weeks of training by an internationally recognised coach, capacity building workshops …Our participation was made possible by the FIDE Women’s Commission who realise that among the 180 countries that compete in Chess Olympiad, there is little to no female participation”.

Durham- Balcombe is hopeful that with their participation in the 45th Chess Olympiad, it will encourage more females to join the sport here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Apart from the historic female team, St Vincent and the Grenadines will be represented by an open team
comprising James Schneider, Brian Cottle, Chinedu Enemchukwu, Uchechukwu Ojiogu and Maurice Edwards.

President Bruce revealed that since the open team’s outing in India, Enemchukwu, has become a FIDE Master, while Cottle is candidate Master.

Bruce will travel to Hungary with the St Vincent and the Grenadines contingent to attend the FIDE Congress, as well as other engagements.