11 Guyanese chess players off to Youth CAC Games in T&T

Eleven Guyanese chess players arrived in the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday August 20 to participate in the XIV CAC Youth Chess Festival, to be played from August 21st to 26th at the Cascadia Hotel in Port-of-Spain.
The rhythm of play in those championships is 90 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one.
Matthew Singh of Queen’s College and former Marian Academy student Ronan Lee are competing in the U18 absolute category. Aniyah Couchman of Queen’s College is playing in the U18 female category.
Alexander Zhang of Queen’s College and Italy Ton Chung of St. Stanislaus College are competing in the U16 absolute and female categories respectively.
Kyle Couchman (brother of Aniyah Couchman) of Queen’s College and Dominic Sam of St Joseph High are in the U14 absolute category. Siblings Ciel Clement of Queen’s College and Kaija Clement of St. Roses High are in the U14 female category.

Nicholas Zhang (brother of Alexander Zhang) of Queen’s College is playing in the U12 absolute category, while
Kateleya Sam of Mae’s Primary, the youngest member on the team, is playing in the U10 female category.
The Guyanese delegation is headed by Marcia Lee, who also serves as GCF Secretary and Head of the Women in Chess Committee. Roberto Neto is accompanying the team to coach the players throughout the tournament. He and FM Anthony Drayton also helped to prepare the team prior to its departure. Neto is an experienced national player who has represented Guyana globally.
This event is FIDE-rated and offers these young players not only the opportunity to put their skills to the test against the best and brightest players under the age of 18 across the region, but also the chance for those skills to be rewarded with titles and norms.
Gold, silver and bronze trophies will be awarded to players taking the top three spots in each category. The top three CAC countries, based on total points, would also receive trophies. Countries will earn points based on top five finishes in each category; where a 5th place finish grants one point and 1st place finish five points.
As is typical for these events, the winners will be decided by the points obtained by each player. The champions will be decided by who obtains the most points, and in the case of ties, winners will be decided by the implementation of a number of tie-break systems.
This nine-round Swiss system tournament features over 200 players from 15 countries across the Central American and Caribbean region. President of the Trinidad and Tobago Chess Federation, Sonja Johnson, confirmed this, while stating that St Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Haiti are fielding contingents for the first time alongside long-time competitors such as Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Barbados and Suriname.