Couchman leads Guyana’s challenge at Pan American Youth Chess Festival

National Junior champion Kyle Couchman produced Guyana’s best performance at the 36th Pan American Youth Chess Festival, finishing with five points from nine rounds as the standard competition concluded on Saturday in Medellín, Colombia.
Competing in the Open Under-18 division, Couchman secured 34th place after recording four victories, two draws and three defeats. He ended the tournament strongly with consecutive wins over Colombia’s Sebastian Velez and Juan Ramirez in the final two rounds.
Couchman, rated 1962, also defeated Colombia’s Emmanuell Chaurra and Simón Carrillo. His draws came against Mexico’s Miguel Lopez, rated 2217, and Ronaldo Hernandez, rated 1727. His tournament performance rating was listed at 1955.
Women’s Candidate Master Aditi Joshi was Guyana’s next-best finisher, collecting 4.5 points to place 27th in the Girls’ Under-16 category. Joshi registered two victories, five draws and two defeats during the nine-round tournament.

She defeated Colombia’s Salome Acevedo and Ecuador’s Eva Nunez, while drawing with opponents from Colombia, Jamaica and Ecuador. Joshi closed her campaign with a draw against Ecuador’s Mariangel Zambrano.
Abel Fernandez also finished positively, scoring four points to place 97th in the Open Under-14 division. Fernandez won his final two matches against Colombia’s Gerard Montes and Peru’s Santiago Medina.
Aiden Tinnie scored four points and placed 73rd in the Open Under-12 category. He registered victories over Jose Barrera of Venezuela and three Colombian opponents, including Nicolas Gaviria in the eighth round.
Alek Ubaldo-Singh accumulated 3.5 points for 110th place in the Open Under-14 division, while Divya Persaud finished with three points and secured 58th place in the Girls’ Under-12 category.
Alexander Zhang placed 100th in the Open Under-16 competition with three points, while Vir Narine and Jeremiah Jacobs also scored three points in the Open Under-12 category. Mark Defreitas collected three points in the Open Under-10 section.
Rebha Lachhman scored three points to finish 75th in the Girls’ Under-14 event, while Emma John earned three points and placed 50th in the Girls’ Under-16 division.
Pranav Suman scored 2.5 points in the Open Under-8 category, with Sanjay Suman and Amaya Sharma ending on two points. Arian Tinnie finished with 1.5 points, while Jordon Jacobs scored one point.
The competition was contested over nine rounds under the Swiss system at the Coliseo de Combate Guillermo Gaviria Correa. Players received 90 minutes with a 30-second increment after each move. The festival ran from July 27 to August 1, and was organised by the Chess Confederation for the Americas and the Colombian Chess Federation.