De Sinco powers National Junior Chess qualifiers with Moo Milk
Staff member Mark Hunte (L) of De Sinco Ltd, distributor of Moo Milk, handing over the sponsorship cheque to Shiv Nandalall, Public Relations Director of the Guyana Chess Federation, at the company’s Sheriff Street premises
The 2024 Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) Junior Chess Championship Qualifiers, sponsored by De Sinco’s Trading through their Moo Milk brand, will be contested from Saturday, July 6th to Tuesday July 9th, 2024. The seven-round competition will be played at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
The 2024 MOO MILK Junior Chess Qualifiers are being staged to canvass the top ten junior players to compete for the title of National Junior Chess Champion in the upcoming Nationals. The 2023 Junior Champion Keron Sandiford will not be defending his title, as he is no longer a junior player, since he has passed the age limit.
The Open chess competition is expected to deliver the strongest ever field of male and female junior competitors in Guyana, with the likes of Kyle Couchman, current National U14 and U16 title holder; Sachin Pitamber, former National Junior Champion; Ricardo Narine, Alexander Zhang, Nicholas Zhang; Aditi Joshi, the reigning U14 Girls Champion; Maliha Rajkumar, the U16 Girls title holder; Italy Ton-Chung, Ciel Clement and Treskolé Archibald are all considered strong contenders for top-ten finishes. Other younger players Kataleya Sam, the U12 Girls title holder; and Jeremy Cole, the U12 Open winner, are also expected to perform splendidly.
This tournament has seen an increase in junior participation in chess, with almost fifty registrants so far. The Guyana Chess Federation is pleased to see the number of schools represented this year, namely: Queen’s College, Marian Academy, St. Joseph’s High, Mae’s School, Saint Stanislaus College, New Amsterdam Special Needs School, New Guyana School, the School of the Nations, Dolphin Secondary and Westminster Secondary.
The Qualifiers tournament will be played in the Swiss format, with a time control of 90 minutes plus 30-second increments after the first move. Two games will be played each day at 9am and 2pm, with the final match being played on July 9th. The event is open to players under 20 years old as at January 1st, 2024.
It will be the first time ten or more FIDE-rated junior players will compete to make the Junior Nationals. President of the GCF, Anand Raghunauth, who also sits at the helm of the Chess in Schools programme, noted that the quality of play has significantly increased among the much younger players due to the extensive training and coaching available to the youths. Local coaches Anthony Drayton, Roberto Neto and Davion Mars have been teaching players for several years, while International Master Atanu Lahiri has continued to provide coaching to top-tier performers such as Kyle Couchman, Sachin Pitamber, and Aditi Joshi.
The Guyana Chess Federation wishes to thank De Sinco and their brand MOO MILK for their generous support towards the 2024 National Junior Championship tournaments. De Sinco has been a proud sponsor of junior chess in Guyana for several years, and the GCF is thankful for the continued partnership.
The top eleven boards will be live-streamed on livechesscloud.com. To keep updated with the tournament, visit chessresults.com for results and pairings. For more information, please visit the GCF’s website: guyanachess.gy, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
