While there was not any public festivity for Republic Day, the local world of chess had much excitement, as the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) hosted its annual Mashramani tournament on February 23rd.
Ricardo Narine of Queen’s College
This online tournament saw participation from more than 50 players in two categories; namely, seniors and juniors. The seniors didn’t see a big turnout, only ten players; but the younger chess prodigies were eager to get into competition, and 45 of them, ranging in ages from 8 to 19 years, were present.
The 9-round event (for both categories) was staged on the Turnello Chess platform. The senior category saw most of those who recently competed in the 2020 Senior Chess Championships.
Irshad Mohamed come out on top with an unblemished 9 points. The next best competitor was National Blitz Chess Champion Davion Mars, who transferred his rapid knowledge online for 7.5 points. Glenford Corlette, who finished amongst the top in the National Senior, had good returns on Mash Day, garnering 7 points. Completing the top five for the Seniors were Murphy Bagot and Steve Leung, who picked up 5 and 4.5 points respectively.
Alec Lumelino of Queen’s College
Ricardo Narine of Queen’s College championed the Junior division with a resounding 7.5 points. Alec Lumelino, also of Queen’s College, trailed closely with 7 points, but had to settle for second place, owing to the half-point deficit. Keron Sandiford of Saint Stanislaus College also finished on 7 points, but copped third place. Oluwadare Clement Oyeyipo and Adia Alphonso completed the top five finishers in the younger division with 6 points each. Alphonso, of Marian Academy, was eventually adjudged the best female finisher.
Meanwhile, “honourable mention” for the Under-12 participants went to Omar Sharrif and Anya Lall.
Making the incentives a bit sweeter for the Mash tournament’s participants, the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) accumulated a purse of $50,000 which would be disseminated as cash prizes to the successful participants.
