Youngsters shine at Grand Prix 3 Chess Tournament

…Couchman, Shariff win respective categories

The third Grand Prix Chess Tournament ended with Kyle Couchman emerging as the winner of the Open category and Sasha Shariff as winner of the Female category.
Couchman amassed 6 points in the eight-round tournament from four wins and four draws, to push ahead of the 17 contenders. His final battle, against senior Rashad Hussain, gained him the top spot after being tied on five points with Keron Sandiford and Ethan Lee at the beginning of the last round.
Couchman defeated Tremusa Marshal, Loris Nathoo and Ethan Lee, and drew with Jaden Taylor, Keron Sandiford, Ronuel Greenidge, and Roberto Neto.
Lee emerged as the winner of second-place with 5.5 points, after he and reigning Junior Champion Sandiford went head-to-head in the final round and both players agreed to a draw.
Lee had initially obtained a dominant position with mounting threats from his two unobstructed Rooks which were poised to invade, but Sandiford managed to neutralize his opponent’s gains, and the match entered an endgame with active queens and the few pawns of both players potentially becoming targets.

Sandiford was on the verge of capturing Lee’s helpless pawns when Lee struck back by using his Queen to continuously threaten Sandiford’s King. In the brief tussle, Lee forced his opponent to redirect his attention, and focus on the safety of his all-important King.
With dwindling chances of victory on either side, both players subsequently agreed to a draw; and Sandiford came in third with 5.5 points after defeating Rafael Park, Rashad Hussain and Jaden Taylor, and drawing with Ricardo Narine, Kyle Couchman, Sachin Pitamber and Roberto Neto.
Senior player Roberto Neto took the fourth spot with 5.5 points, CM Ronuel Greenidge took fifth spot with five points; and Rashad Hussain, Jaden Taylor, Kim Shing Chong, Sachin Pitamber and Kishan Puran ended with 4.5 points. Loris Nathoo and Ricardo Narine each had 4 points.
The female competition saw Sasha Shariff emerging victorious with 6.5 points, ahead of Women’s Champion Jessica Callender who also had 6.5 points due to the tie-break system. Shariff and Callender each had 5.5 points before the final round, and both won their matches, against Nellisha Johnson and Angelina Yhap respectively.
In the final round, a confident Shariff outplayed her female counterpart Nellisha Johnson, with a Knight and two Rooks wreaking havoc. Johnson was unable to defend her deteriorating position despite fighting valiantly with only two Rooks. Shariff won more material, and Johnson could not avoid the virtual loss.
Aditi Joshi placed third with 6 points, and Ciel Clement and Treskole Archibald came in fourth and fifth respectively with 5 points each. Nellisha Johnson ended with 4.5 points.
The top three winners in each category obtained cash prizes amounting to seventy thousand dollars.
The tournament was sponsored by the Guyana Chess Federation with supervision by FIDE Arbiter John Lee. Points were awarded to the top contenders according to the Grand Prix system devised to obtain the top five players in the Open and Female categories who will participate in the Chess Olympiad later this year. Qualifying tournaments such as the Grand Prix series, the National Open Qualifiers, and the National Championships determine the outcome of the Olympiad team.
The Guyana Chess Federation would like to thank the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sport for providing the venue of the Guyana National Stadium for the four-day tourney.