CM Meusa maintains lead in Open National Chess Championships

…despite upset defeat by Roberto Neto

…Johnson, Shariff, Lam tied for top points in Women’s Nationals

Roberto Neto defeated Candidate Master Wendell Meusa during the sixth round of the nine-round competition that constitutes the Open National Chess Championships. However, Meusa maintains his lead with 5 points in the Gaico-sponsored National Open Chess Tournament, wherein a new National Champion for 2022 will be declared.

‘Tiny’ inaccuracies by Neto gave Meusa an early advantage, and the middle game progressed evenly, with Meusa making a material sacrifice as well as a mistake, which turned the game from a win to a draw.
Neto was able to convert to a win after Meusa again blundered, and was able to capitalise on this good fortune to have Meusa resign shortly after.
Meusa has already defeated #2 seed, FM Anthony Drayton, who won the Qualifier, and defending National Champion CM Taffin Khan, who has a good chance of making a comeback if Meusa suffers any further defeat, since Khan currently stands just half a point behind Meusa, with 4.5 points.
Frankie Farley and Ethan Lee are on 4 points each, and Anthony Drayton and Roberto Neto are on 3.5 points each.
Meanwhile, in the KFC Guyana-sponsored Women’s Nationals, Nellisha Johnson, Sasha Shariff and Pooja Lam are currently tied in the top position on 5 points each after 6 matches. Johnson’s only defeat so far has come against defending women’s champion Sasha Shariff.
Johnson convincingly won her game with Jessica Callender after a laborious three-hour match. Minor inaccuracies by Callender had given Johnson the advantage from the beginning. Although the two players had equal material during the middle game, Callender’s position had weaknesses which Johnson took advantage of. After trading off pieces, Johnson queened and played a principled end game, leading to her victory over Callender.
Shariff and Lam have not yet lost any match, but drew their games against each other and #2 seed Jessica Callender, who won the Qualifying tournament.
Adia Alphonso and Maliha Rajkumar follow closely behind the top three players on 3 points each.
The Open and Women’s Nationals are being run concurrently at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, and would end on Sunday, May 29th.
The top finisher in each tournament would be named National Champion and Women’s National Champion respectively. Additionally, a points-based system, inclusive of results from the Grand Prix Tournaments as well as the Nationals, would determine the ten-member team to represent Guyana in India at the 44th Fide Chess Olympiad in July/August of this year.