National Under-14 Rapid Chess tournament: Kyle Couchman, Ciel Clement win male and female categories

Kyle Couchman and Ciel Clement were the respective top male and female finishers
in the National U14 Rapid Open and Girls Chess Tournament which concluded on Saturday, July 16, at Queen’s College in Georgetown.

Twelve-year-old Kyle Couchman emerged victorious ahead of 31 other boys playing in the tournament. He continues to display his excellence over the board, having finished in fourth place earlier this year at the National Junior Championships, wherein he was also the youngest player to qualify for the event.
Up-and-coming 12-year-old Micaiah Enoe was in second place, while in third place was eight-year-old Aquilani Swaminadha, who played splendidly, and also took home the prize for Best Under-12 Chess Player in the Open tournament.
Siblings Julian and Landon Mohabir won the respective Best Under-10 and Best Under-8 Player awards. The Mohabir boys continue to dominate in these categories, as they had both won previously in the National Junior Qualifiers tournament earlier this year.
In the Girls’ category, Ciel Clement from Region 6, who had also played earlier this year in the Junior Qualifiers, showed her improved skills by winning the Girls category of the U14 nationals. In second place was Maliha Rajkumar, who has been competing consistently throughout the year.
Third place went to Anaya Lall, who in a few days’ time is set to depart with the National Chess Team that would be representing Guyana at the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad in India. Chelsea Harrison was the Best Under-10 girl, while Arianna Binda was Best Under-8 girl.
Forty young players competed in seven rounds of rapid matches, with 15 mins plus 5 mins increments. Trophies were presented by Queen’s College teacher Ms. Henry, who also serves as chess coordinator at the school, and by Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Dr. Marcel Hutson.
The Guyana Chess Federation continues to offer weekly online classes to students, who are taught the basics of chess, various chess tactics, and how to solve chess puzzles. The GCF also offers free membership on Chesskid.com to registered students of the federation.
The tournament was conducted by FIDE Arbiters John Lee and Anand Raghunauth. The GCF wishes to thank the Board of Directors of Queen’s College for providing the venue to host the tournament. The GCF will also be hosting the National Under-16 Rapid Chess Tournament on Sunday, July 31st 2022 at the Marian Academy. Registration will be done online at guyanachess.org and the tournament will consist of the same format: 7 rounds, 15 mins+5 sec increments.
Children who are not yet 16 years old as at January 1 2022 can participate.