Players make gains in international rankings after Chess Olympiad performances

The Guyana chess team concluded their participation in the biennial FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India on August 9, 2022, having increased the country’s international ranking for the women by 16 places and the Open team by four places.

Some players who competed in the Olympiad also increased their international rankings significantly, having played against some of the toughest players from around the world. Candidate Master Taffin Khan remains as the highest-ranked player in the country with 2005 points after playing on Board One for Guyana’s National Open team. This was Khan’s fourth consecutive Olympiad and he finished on 4.5 points as the only player for Guyana to play all 11 rounds with no breaks. FIDE Master Anthony Drayton, who was playing in his fourth Olympiad, gained 33 rating points which brings him now to 1961 as the third highest-rated active player in the country. Loris Nathoo also gained rating points moving up to 1702, while Roberto Neto is at 1651. Ethan Lee is the most highly-rated junior player with 1523. This was his first Olympiad.
On the females’ side, 12-year-old Anaya Lall, who was previously unrated, gained a rating of 1166 after defeating highly-rated players in Chennai. This makes her one of the top 10 rated female players in the country, sixth among rated players and third among active players. Jessica Callender gained 22 rating points and now has 1319 while Sasha Shariff gained 57 points which takes her to 1240. Both players earned their conditional women’s candidate master titles which will appear behind their names once they attain ratings of 1800 or above. For active players listed for Guyana on the FIDE website, the top five rated females are all from the team that competed in the Olympiad.
From first to fifth, it is Jessica Callender, Sasha Shariff, Anaya Lall, Pooja Lam, and Nellisha Johnson.