OUSTANDING PERFORMANCE FROM JUNIORS IN JAMAICAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Eleven (11) talented local chess players competed last Sunday, 21st November 2021, in the Jamaica Online Open Tournament.

The Open chess championship was contested by a total of 124 players from across the Caribbean in various categories.
In each category, six (6) rounds of matches were played on the Tornelo.com chess platform.
Best finish for Guyana from the females was Pooja Lam from Saraswati Vidya Niketan, who placed 3rd in the U1300 category with five (5) points. She has starred on the local scene in numerous online tournaments this year, including the FIDE Youth World Cup.
She was followed closely by Guyana’s Naomi Barkoye, who copped 4th with four (4) wins and one (1) draw.

Maliha Rajkumar, Aniyah Couchman and Naila Rahaman finished 8th, 11th and 12th respectively after six (6) rounds.
As for the males, Kishan Puran placed 3rd with 4 wins 2 draws from six games. He drew his final game against the eventual winner of the U1300 absolute category, Jamaican Ajay Tennant.
Kyle Couchman, Arysh Raghunauth, Mahir Rajkumar and Xavier Pratt placed 16th,30th, 38th and 51st respectively.
Junior Blitz Champion 2020, Keron Sandiford of St. Stanislaus College, was Guyana’s lone competitor in the U1600 category. He finished 28th, after defeating half of all his opponents.
The junior players have shown much improvement in their play, no doubt as a result of the frequent online competitions throughout the year, and the training by IM Atanu Lahiri.
The players will now turn their attention to this weekend’s three (3) mmg+ online rapid tournaments.