Ethan Lee played undefeated again to win the Advance Section of the Wendell Meusa Chess Foundation Emancipation Kids Cup.
For him it is now four (4) tournaments in a row with remarkable statistics of 28 games, 26 wins, 2 draws and no loses. His highly anticipated match against Guyana National Junior Champion Joshua Gopaul was his last real test. Gopaul with the White pieces took an advantage in the Scotch opening after some inaccurate play from Ethan saw him losing a Rook for a Knight and a pawn.
Ethan Lee recieving his trophy
However, to win this piece Gopaul had over extended his Queen into the opponent’s territory which resulted in it being trapped due to miscalculation. After winning Gopaul’s Queen, Ethan made light work of the reminding pieces and secure his full point.
Ghansham Allijohn played to a solid draw against Ethan in round five (5) with the Black pieces. Ghansham known as Little Anand after Indian Former World Champion Vishy Anand simplified Ethan’s aggressive play to secure a draw. Round six however Ethan should have lost, being a Knight down against Savir Gookul but this is not the case.
Lee, even though a piece down played and pressured his opponent who was in time trouble which resulted in Gookul making some decisive error. By the last round Ethan had already secured the tournament and played calmly where a draw was extended and taken by fellow schoolmate Odit Rodrigues. Ethan finished on 6 points from 7 games/
Taking second place was National Junior Champion Joshua Gopaul on 5.5 points and finishing in third were Jaden Taylor and Rajiv Lee, both on 5 points. Rajiv Lee’s performance must be noted after he lost 2 of his 3 games in the first 3 rounds.
However, he made an impressive comeback in the last 4 rounds winning all his games to secure his 3rd position. He defeated Savir Gookul, Allijohn, Jorrell Troyer and Jonathan Stephney with some tactical chess.
Allijohn and Rodrigues finished on 3.5 points each, followed by Ronan Lee and Jessica Calender on 3 points each, then Jorrell Troyer on 2 points and Jonathan Stephney on 1 point.
In the Beginners Section, Sophia Singh returned to chess with a bang winning all 7 of her games won by checkmating each opponent.
The 15-year old St Joseph High School student, took a little over a year break from chess and showed that she still has it, especially when she defeated fellow female Angel Rahim in a lengthy game that lasted nearly 3 hours.
Her win against USA junior player Rashad Gilgeous should be noted since the players played in the sharp Evan Gambit when she sacked her Bishop to force mate in 3 in two different variations. Taking 2nd place was newbie Rahim who is playing chess for only one month now.
However, she shows that she is a quite the learner and she has the discipline to become great. Young Rahim executed chess principles perfectly from opening guidelines to basic tactics of pins, forks and skewers that was too much for her beginner opponents. Her only lost came to the more experienced Singh, where she put up a great fight.
Finishing in 3rd was 7-year old Triston Singh of Mae’s Primary School who accumulated 5 points with his losses coming to Sophia and Angel.
However, he proved he was good enough to finish third as Joshua Khan, Arysh Raghunauth, Jibril Alli, Kaiden Ali Rashad and Kyle Gilgeous all finished on 3 points each to for fourth, while Alia Gafoor and Asher Gafoor withdrew from the tournament.
The organiers extended a heartfelt thanks to all who helped make the tournament possible, namely, the National Sports Commission, American University of Peace Studies, Red Cherry, Julio’s Ice Cream, Mr & Mrs Lee, Bibi Rahim and Maurlene Lee.
