Queen’s College reign supreme at Georgetown inter-school chess tournament

It was an exuberant day for chess players from Queen’s College when they emerged as the winners in the open and female team categories and in the individual tournament of the just-concluded Inter-School Chess Tournament involving 15 schools within Georgetown.
The collaborative effort between the Guyana Chess Federation and the Ministry of Education under the Priority Areas Programme bore fruit with the staging of the competition on December 11 and 12, 2024, at the Queen’s College Auditorium.
More than 150 students registered for the competition from 15 schools in the Georgetown Educational District, eight of which are under the Priority Areas Programme.
Members of the winning open team who represented Queen’s College are Kyle Couchman, CM Sachin Pitamber, WCM Aditi Joshi, and Mahir Rajkumar. The female team consisted of Ciel Clement, Kataleya Sam, Rebha Lachman, and Parnita Kishun.
Placing second in the open category were Marian Academy students Macaiah Enoe, Alek Ubaldo Singh, Joseph Prendergast, and Mayas Khan. The New Guyana School students Abel Fernandes, Tremusa Marshall, Tejas Kandavel, and Caleb Damon came in third.

For the females, the New Guyana School team, consisting of Anaya Walrund, Anya DeGroot, Sana Sreebalakumar, and Lusianna Farlot placed second. Marian Academy girls Angelina Yhap, Tharisha Montes De Oca, Kristin Xavier, and Chelsea Harrison took home the third-prize trophy.
Queen’s College student Alexander Zhang took home the individual tournament champion trophy, while his sibling Nicholas Zhang placed second. Omar Shariff placed third. All three winners are students of Queen’s College.
Marian Academy student Brian Clarke took home the fourth-place prize, while Jacob McDonald from the School of the Nations won the fifth-place trophy. Vir Narine of Marian Academy won the sixth-place prize.
Four sportsmanship awards went to Shurlan Sparman of the Bishops’ High, Saura Ruplall from Marian Academy, Jeremiah Jacobs from School of the Nations, and Saidy Bourne from Richard Ishmael Secondary.
Students from the Bishops’ High, Christ Church Secondary, Dolphin Secondary, Houston Secondary, Kingston Secondary, Marian Academy, New Guyana School, Richard Ishmael Secondary, School of the Nations, St John’s College, St Joseph High, St Rose’s High, St Stanislaus High, Queen’s College, and Queenstown Secondary were all invited to participate in the open team, female team, and individual categories.
Teams consisted of four players from each participating school for the open and female sections. Five students were invited to play in the individual section, including the reserve player for each team.
The two-day tournament had a time control of 25 minutes with 10-second increments added to the clock after each move and was played in a seven-round Swiss format.
Teams with the most points in each category were presented with trophies and medals provided by the Ministry of Education Priority Areas Programme in a short presentation ceremony following the completion of all rounds. Saeed Zameen, the programme’s coordinator, was on hand to present the trophies to the winners.
The Chess Federation said it was pleased with the turnout and enthusiasm of the students for chess at the tournament. GCF President Anand Raghunauth stated that chess would be taught in other regions in 2025. “We have a plan and we have to be patient in the rollout for a sustainable outcome,” he said.
Raghunauth is very optimistic that chess training in Regions Two, Three, Six, and 10 will be possible next year as the GCF will diligently concentrate its efforts in 2025 on a broad-based initiative for inter-school chess and the growth of chess in the regions.
Such initiatives can see many schools being added to the Chess in Schools roster as the Federation promotes chess as a learning and teaching tool.
The GCF congratulated all the winners of the Inter-School Chess Tournament and encouraged the students to continue playing and learning chess so that they could continue to reap the benefits of playing chess and make themselves tournament-ready.
The GCF wished to thank the sponsors who provided the snacks and beverages: Topco and Sunshine Snacks. Gratitude was also extended to KFC, who assisted with the meals, and to Queen’s College for the use of the auditorium.