Shariff wins 1st chess tournament after COVID-19 break

Omar Shariff showed fine form over the weekend in being able to come back strong from a lengthy break to win the Junior Chess competition.

The “Chess in Schools” junior chess pilot programme, in partnership with chesskid.com, was able to attract 38 under-16 children from six schools to participate in its first local, fully online chess tournament. The children played for just about three hours in seven exciting rounds under the watchful eye of experienced arbiter John Lee. Emerging victorious was ten-year-old Omar Shariff, who, after a first-round loss to Arysh Raghunauth, reeled off six consecutive wins to finish on six points.
Italy Ton Chung finished second with five points, while Mahalia Rajkumar was third. The remainder of the top nine for the tournament included Kyle Couchman, Ethan Persaud, Neal Rodrigues, Joel Wong, Mahir Rajkumar and Micaiah Enoe.
The tournament signalled the return of junior chess, with 100 children to be awarded gold membership on chesskid.com at a cost of US$1500 to the GCF.
The training and development aspects of chess is hinged on widening the pool of young players, with guidance from seniors and, ultimately, international trainers.
The junior chess realignment post COVID-19 will see a shorter format of chess being played, with technology as its aid to the future.