FM Drayton, Callender win National Qualifiers

– 18 players qualify for National Championship

FIDE Master Anthony Drayton and Jessica Callender have won the National Open and Women’s Qualifiers respectively after four days of intense rivalry at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence. The tournaments ran concurrently, starting on Saturday, May 7 and concluding on Sunday, May 15, 2022.

Open Qualifiers
FM Drayton played undefeated to storm to victory, finishing on eight points after eight rounds. Drayton, a former national champion himself, will now go on to challenge Candidate Master Taffin Khan for the 2022 National Championship title. The other eight players in contention are: Candidate Master Wendell Meusa (7 points), Roberto Neto (5 points), Loris Nathoo (4.5 points), Frankie Farley (4.5 points), Ethan Lee (4 points), Rashad Hussain (4 points), Justino De Silva (4 points), and Rai Sharma (4 points) who finished second to ninth place respectively. These players will now move on to the nine-round Round-Robin Open National Championship Tournament.

In the just-concluded competition, third-place finisher Neto played against sixth-place finisher Lee in round seven of the tournament. What began as a solid opening led to a four-hour struggle for dominance. Tiny inaccuracies plagued Lee’s development into the middle game, which Neto capitalised on intensely. Lee held valiantly, in an attempt to convince his opponent that there was nothing more than a draw in the position as things went from bad to worse.

An accurate piece exchange for multiple of Lee’s pawns was made by Neto, promising an enjoyable endgame. Time had dragged on, and both Neto and Lee’s time had elapsed, leaving both of them to play on the 30-second increment. Inaccuracies from both sides began to flow, but Lee managed to recapture some of his lost pawns, draining Neto’s advantage and allowing Lee’s extra piece to show its strength. The players agreed to a draw in the end, letting Lee escape from a position that was dead loss.

Women’s Qualifier
Callender finished in first place to win the Women’s National Qualifiers with seven points. She finished just ahead of Pooja Lam, who also managed to earn seven points, but ranked below Callender due to a direct encounter tie-break. In third place was deaf player 12-year-old Anaya Lall, who successfully defeated players such as Adia Alphonso, Maliha Rajkumar and Nellisha Johnson to gain six points in the competition. Nellisha Johnson and Alphonso both finished on five points to place them fourth and fifth respectively. Rajkumar, Waveney Johnson and Angel Rahim placed sixth to eighth on four points each. Elizabeth McRae took the final qualifying spot with three points. These girls will challenge reigning Women’s Champion 18-year-old Sasha Shariff as she fights to retain her title. The Women’s National Championship Tournament will also consist of a nine-round Round Robin.

In one of the highlights of the recently-contested ladies tourney, in round five, Nellisha Johnson had the white pieces against eventual champion Callender. Both players began and almost immediately lead into an interesting position. Tiny inaccuracies by Callender led to an excellent position for Johnson right out of the opening with a devastating attack. Callender defended well and avoided checkmate, but the damage was already done. Johnson was left up the exchange and with a powerful passed pawn, one square away from promotion. The game was converted to a win gracefully, as Callender lost her last piece preventing the past pawn from promoting. The game ended in checkmate and as an excellent victory over the tournament champion for Nellisha Johnson.

Nationals
The Open and Women’s National Championships begin on May 21 at the same venue from 09:00h sharp. It concludes on May 29, 2022. KFC Guyana is the primary sponsor of this year’s Women’s Championships while Gaico Construction will be the sponsor for the Open National Championship. The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) is ecstatic to have the support of KFC Guyana and Gaico Construction and looks forward to their continued partnership. The GCF congratulated the players and wished them every success in the upcoming national tournaments, where they will vie for the coveted top positions paving the way for team selection for the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India in July-August of this year. Women and girls who are interested in learning the game are encouraged to register with the Federation on its website guyanachess.org under the Women in Chess Community.