It was a fruitful outing for the Guyanese ladies, as the chess players performed admirably at the recently-concluded online tournament – the Margaret Prince Memorial Rapid Online Female Tournament.
The tournament was hosted by the Women’s Sub-Committee of the Barbados Chess Federation, and an invitation for Guyana’s female players to participate was extended to the local Federation.
Guyana’s Jessica Callender
The seven-round tournament was played over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday, featuring 58 female chess players from in and around the Caribbean – 13 of whom were from Guyana.
The Guyanese women did not disappoint, as Jessica Callender ended with an impressive 4.5 points, while Pooja Lam, Sherlyta Campayne and Nellisha Johnson all ended on four points each. Younger players Maliha Rajkumar and Naomi Barkoye gained three points each.
Callender, the reigning University of Guyana Female Champion who placed 15th in the Caribbean tournament, won her games against regional counterparts Victoria Powell, Rashida Corbin and Kayla Martin and fellow Guyanese Nellisha Johnson who lost on time.
The 13-year-old Lam, an up-and-coming player who is a student of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan School, finished notably in 17th place with wins against Meghalaya Haughton-Pathaw, Alesha Lovell, Celine Mohamed and fellow Guyanese Queen’s College student, Naomi Barkoye.
Sherlyta Campayne and Nellisha Johnson, who both participated recently in the Fide (International Chess Federation) Online Olympiad, continue to showcase their talent and promise as some of the top female players in Guyana.
Junior players such as Maliha Rajkumar, Adia Alphonso, Anaya Lall and Aniyah Couchman, as well as Barkoye and Lam, are all currently being trained under the Chess-In-Schools programme, sanctioned by the FIDE Development Fund, by International Master Atanu Lahiri. Other players who took part in the tournament were Shazeeda Rahim, Naila Rahaman, Shelby Williams, and Areanna Singh.
