Da Silva, Lee, Puran in the lead at U-16 Chess Championships
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) continues its preparation for the 2020 Carifta junior chess championships, this time with an Under-16 qualifying tournament. With four of the country’s top U-16 players already qualified for the national team, the others will have a chance to grab one of the other 36 places available. Guyana while hosting the event will be putting together a strong contingent of 120 players for the six tournaments which make up the regional championships.
A glimpse of the mind-probing action at Providence
The Under-16 tournament is being hosted with the intention to identify 36 more players from that age group who will be handed the opportunity to compete in the CARIFTA Junior Chess Championships slated for Guyana in April.
Hosted by the GCF, in collaboration with Caribbean Surgeries Inc, the tournament has seen participation from approximately 40 players from Marian Academy, Queen’s College, the Bishops’ High School, St Stanislaus College, St Joseph High, Saraswati Vidya Niketan and the Tuschen Deaf Academy.
Gareth Da Silva is currently the man in the lead with four points from four rounds played. The Marian Academy student stunned his fellow competitors by keeping his slate clean when play began last Saturday.
Also, on four points is Da Silva’s schoolmate Ronan Lee. Nothing less was expected of Lee, who dominated the Mae’s Under-14 tournament two weekends ago, copping first place. Queen’s College’s Kishan Puran rounded off the top three currently, also sitting on four points.
On three points are Marian Academy’s Alexia Mc Adam and QC’s Alex Pires. St Joseph’s Gillysa Hamilton, Bishops’ Anasie Fredericks, Hinterland Dorm’s Gideon Jacobs, School of the Nations’ Joshua Khan and Marian Academy’s Manav Sharma, who all have three wins under their belts from the four rounds played.
Aleem Baseer of the Tuschen Deaf Academy, in spite of adversity, is romping with the highly-experienced players, sitting on two points to round off the current top ten.
The Under-16 competition will continue this Saturday at the National Stadium, with three rounds remaining and the championships wide open.
