The National Under-12 Chess Championships began yesterday, and more than 30 students from the Marian Academy, School of the Nations, Mae’s Under 12 and other schools gathered at the School of the Nations premises on New Market Street in Georgetown to display their skills and flex their mental muscles.
The young minds were hard at work in the Junior Chess Championships on Saturday
Sponsored by DeSinco Trading under the Moo Milk brand and by Rambarran’s Transport Services, the 7-round, Swiss System junior tournament began on Saturday morning, and Guyana’s youngest crop of chess players had a mentally exhausting day, wherein they had to go through four rounds of play.
These under-12 championships are the first tournament on the Guyana Chess Federation’s calendar of events for the year 2020, and are regarded as integral in the Federation’s preparation for the Junior Chess Championships of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), wherein Guyana would be hosting more than 10 Caribbean countries
from April 10 to 13 at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
These National Under-12 Chess Championships will continue today at the School of the Nations premises, where the final three rounds of play will be conducted and the top finishers will be awarded their respective prizes.
While scouting players to represent Guyana at the CARIFTA Junior Championships in April is one objective of this under-12 tournament, an organiser told Guyana Times Sport that there is another objective to the competition.
“We’re trying to work on the technical aspects of their game also,” the organizer explained.
The young players are also being trained in proper game etiquette, so their level of play would be up to international standard when the regional competition commences in Guyana in April.
Results from these Under-12 National Championships will be published in a future production of Guyana Times Sport.
