Guyana chess team grabs silver at Inter-Guiana Games

…Alexander Zhang plays unbeaten

Guyana’s participation in the 2024 Inter-Guiana Games has demonstrated outstanding efforts in sportsmanship and teamwork.
Guyana has participated in seven sporting disciplines against Suriname and French Guiana in the Games, and the junior national chess team has been a standout with its members displaying skill and strategy to secure silver in the three-day tournament, held in French Guiana from October 24th to October 26th, 2024. Alexander Zhang has played unbeaten in the four rounds.
Guyana’s male team comprised of CM Sachin Pitamber, Alexander Zhang, and Omar Shariff, and WCM Aditi Joshi, Ciel Clement, Italy Ton-Chung and Kaija Clement made up the female team. The male team entered the competition with one member short, due to Kyle Couchman’s absence.
Day one of the tournament started with three of the six rounds of the Double Round Robin format, with 30 minutes per player plus 30 seconds’ increment after each move.

The Guyana male team played against Suriname in round one, but lost the round with 1.5 points against the Suriname total of 2.5. After a round two bye, the Guyanese team faced a setback in round three against French Guiana, where the only point was secured by Zhang. The boys held their own in round 4, with even scores against Suriname, thanks to wins from Zhang and Pitamber. After a second bye in round 5, Guyana won round 6 against French Guiana, scoring 2.5 to 1.5 points with wins from Zhang and Pitamber and a draw from Shariff.
Zhang emerged as the top scorer with 4 out of 4 points for Guyana.
The Guyana female team was overwhelmed by Suriname in rounds one and four. However, in round three, the girls rallied to secure the round against French Guiana 3:1 with victories from Joshi and the Clement siblings. The female team also demolished the French Guiana team in round six with 4:0 points.
The male and female teams have both finished in second place, receiving the silver trophies, and each player has been awarded a silver medal.
The team received extensive coaching and support from coach and supervisor Roberto Nero, who ensured team members did their best to meet the challenges posed by their opponents in each round.
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) is extremely proud of all the players who participated in the tournament, and would like to thank the team officials Mrs. Clement and Mrs. Joshi for supporting the team members during the eight days of tournament and travel; and coach Roberto Neto is being especially thanked because his support was invaluable to the team.
The Federation is also expressing gratitude to the Honorable Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Mr. Charles Ramson, and the Director of Sports, Mr. Steve Ninvalle, and his team for organizing and providing a safe and successful trip for the athletes.
The GCF has reviewed its selection and code of conduct policy by way of a special board meeting, and will be instituting a menu of measures to not have teams adversely affected in future tournaments.