FIDE Chess Olympiad”: Joshi, Clement chalk up wins for women’s team
Aditi Joshi continued her dominant run at the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, picking up a second victory over another higher-rated player on Saturday last. To make matters better for the women’s team, Ciel Clement also tasted victory in Round 4 when they faced off with European territory Guernsey. However, the Guyanese men’s team at the Olympiad were not as successful when they took on Palestine.
Marie de Carteret (unrated) of the island nation conceded defeat to Guyanese Ciel Clement (1454) after 31 moves in a weak position, losing her queen earlier to Clement.
Joshi (1535) defeated higher-rated opponent Julie L Denning (1741) in 36 moves after an intense fight. Joshi advanced her Rook, Knight and Bishop and surrounded her opponent’s King to execute checkmate on the 36th move.
Meanwhile, Guyana’s Candidate Master (CM) Taffin Khan (2066) resigned to his Palestinian opponent CM Mohamed Allam (2053) on the 50th move as Mohamed made gains and strengthened his position for a final assault on Khan’s King.
Aditi Joshi (centre) and Ciel Clement (far right) picked up victories in Round 4 of the FIDE Chess Olympiad
FIDE Master (FM) Anthony Drayton (1964) was engaged in a marathon confrontation with International Master (IM) Christian D Michel Yunis (2220) that ended in 83 moves. The match reached the endgame with Yunis’ only pawn left on the board, heading for promotion which determined the outcome and loss for Drayton.
Former Junior Champion Keron Sandiford (1755) conceded to his opponent Ahmad Abdel Wahab (1995) in an endgame dominated by Wahab’s two extra pawns heading for promotion, posing a dire threat to his opponent. Unable to avoid the outcome, Sandiford resigned on move 49.
Sachin Pitamber (1715), paired against CM Baha Miswadah (1957), ended their match on move 53 in favour of Miswadah. Miswadah gained a three-pawn advantage with his superior Rook battling Pitamber’s Knight.
A look at Guyana’s chess team at the FIDE Chess Olympiad
More matches are scheduled as Team Guyana face off against more countries in the epic biennial event with the participation of almost 200 chess-playing nations.
The 45th Chess Olympiad ends on September 23, 2024, after 11 rounds of competition. So far, Guyana have faced the host nation Hungary, as well as teams from Denmark, Jordan, Palestine, Guernsey, and sister Caricom States Grenada and St Vincent.
The pairings are computer generated based on the scorings of the teams participating.
