The Diamond Fire and General Insurance-sponsored National Women’s Chess Championship Qualifiers were wrapped up last Sunday at the David Rose Special School with surprising results.
Aniyah Couchman has emerged as the winner in the seven- round decisive FIDE-rated competition.
During the preceding two weekends – March 1st and 2nd, and 8th and 9th — females of all ages were in contention, vying for the top nine spots in the National Women’s Championships scheduled to begin on March 22nd, 2025.
Couchman overcame her opponents by amassing 5.5 points, her only loss coming from her match against WCM Sasha Shariff. Couchman’s last game with WCM Aditi Joshi, who also gained 5.5 points, ended in a draw.
Joshi, the current Under-16 Girls Champion, finished second after the tiebreaks, with four wins and three draws.
Aniyah Couchman sharing a handshake with Arbiter John Lee
Shariff took third place with 5 points, after dominating the keenly contested tournament in the first four rounds; while young Kataleya Sam, the current Under-12 Girls Champion, placed fourth with 5 points. Ciel Clement and Treskole Archibald finished with 4.5 points each, placing them in the fifth and sixth positions. Italy Ton-Chung, Angelina Yhap, and Lusianna Farlot all gained 4 points to qualify for the remaining three positions in the top nine.
These top nine females will square off over the board in a round robin competition with the 2024 National Women’s Champion title holder, WCM Jessica Callender, for a chance to win the 2025 National Women’s Chess Championship’s coveted title.
This annual competition has served as a crucial event for the local female chess community, as it has determined the top nine winners to compete in the championship.
The nineteen female players who participated in the Swiss-format classical tournament played a time control of 90 minutes, with a 5-second increment added to the clock after each move. The tournament was supervised by FIDE Arbiter John Lee, with assistance from National Arbiter Kim Shing Chong.
This FIDE-rated tournament would give some unrated players a chance to gain their ELO ratings once they have won or drawn a game with a rated player. With the number of ELO-rated players increasing in Guyana, more and more players have been gradually gaining ratings.
The Elo rating system measures the relative strength of a player in chess compared to other players, and it is used by the International Chess Federation FIDE. Ratings can be checked on https://ratings.fide.com.
The GCF has thanked its sponsors, Diamond Fire and General Insurance, for the unwavering support given to the Women’s National Chess Championships over the years; and the David Rose School has been thanked for graciously providing the venue.
