Puran, Zhang, Ton-Chung among FIDE tournament qualifiers

Last weekend, the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) held a qualifying tournament for the nation’s juniors to gain places in the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Online Rapid Cadets and Youth World Cup scheduled for August 2021.
The qualifying tournament was affected by the schools’ examination cycle as it conflicted with players’ preparations for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) examinations. However, more than 40 players were still able to compete for places on the Guyana team.

The GCF was invited to participate in this international tournament which is expected to attract thousands of players from almost every country in the world. Team Guyana will be contesting in each of the 10 categories: Under-10 Open, Under-10 Girls, Under-12 Open, Under-12 Girls, Under-14 Open, Under-14 Girls, Under-16 Open, Under-16 Girls, Under-18 Open, and Under-18 Girls. This event will be held online following FIDE’s regulations for tournaments of this type.
Guyana will be represented by some of the best chess players in junior chess in recent times. In the Under-16 division, Kishun Puran will play in the highly-competitive category and will gain valuable experience after outmanoeuvring his fellow competitors on the local scene for the last year. Raveon Adonis and Matthew Singh finished second and third in the U-16 division and will be offered spots in this category. Puran played unbeaten in the qualifying tournament and finished as the tournament’s champion for the U-18 group on 6.5 points, conceding a single draw to Oluwadare Oyeyipo.

A lot is expected from Omar Shariff, champion in the Under-12 division and second-place finisher Nicholas Zhang. They are tipped to represent Guyana in the Under-12 and Under-10 Open categories respectively. They have been in constant training for the last nine months and are easily the best at their craft this year. Shariff has played unbeaten in his division with six wins and one draw. Emmanuel Primus, on winning the U-14 Open category, earned his place on the team.

Angel Rahim emerged as the champion girl in the U-18 Division, Aniyah Couchman for the Under-16 Girls, and Maliha Rajkumar for the Under-14 Girls. They, along with Anaya Lall and Alayna Ally – the winners of the Girls U-12 and U-10 categories, have guaranteed positions on Team Guyana.
The U-18 Open saw Oluwadare Oyeyipo finishing first, pushing the seasoned favourite Keron Sandiford to second while Akili Theopil finished third for the final qualifying spot.