T&T champions of inaugural Caricom Chess tournament

…Guyana finish second

The conclusion of the Caricom Classic Chess Team tournament ended with the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago taking the first prize after gaining 18 points in the team chess tournament. Guyana’s Team One came in second place with 14 points. Barbados ended also with 14 points, but Guyana edged past on the tiebreaker.
Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago went head to head during the last round of the round-robin format, resulting in a win for the visiting team 3.5-0.5.
CM Taffin Khan drew his final encounter in the tournament. Khan, playing white, was paired with FM Joshua Johnson, the strongest in the Trinidadian team. Both players played cautiously, knowing it was the final battle for players of all Caricom teams. Johnson and Khan carefully manoeuvred their pieces for advantage, but both players went all the way to the endgame. With equal material of Rook, Bishop, and pawns remaining on the board, the top Trinidadian and Guyanese players agreed to avoid further risk and emerged with half a point each from the truce.

FM Anthony Drayton, Jessica Callender, and Shazeeda Rahim lost to FM Quinn Cabralis, WCM Ysvett Hermoso Rodriguez, and Zara La Fleur, respectively.
Drayton went down to Trinidadian Cabralis in a fighting endgame, but the Guyanese had to contend with a weaker position from lost material. A confident Cabralis with a force of extra pawns and an active King forced his Guyanese counterpart to resign.
The winning teams were presented with medals, trophies, and cash prizes by Davion Leslie, Programme Manager responsible for Sports Development within the Caricom Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana. The cash prizes, trophies, and medals were sponsored by the Caricom Secretariat.
Guyana’s Taffin Khan gained 8.5 points, while Zara La Fleur from Trinidad and Tobago gained 9 points in the nine-round round-robin competition, making them the top scorers in the week-long event.

The Barbados team, comprising Emar Edwards, FM Phillip Corbin, WCM Katrina Blackman, and Hanna Wilson, took home the third-place prizes.
Guyana’s Team Two scored a victory over Dominica 3-1 in round 9. Keron Sandiford and Kyle Couchman drew with Nigel Francis and Nicholas Goldberg, while Sasha Shariff and Aditi Joshi defeated Zahidu Henry and Ayani Casimir.
The tournament was supervised by International Arbiter Kelvin Daniel from Barbados, FIDE Arbiter John Lee, and National Arbiters Kim Shing Chong, Odit Rodrigues, and Ricardo Narine.
Trinidadian National Arbiter Sandy Razark was also present to assist. Lee was also the technical personnel behind the scenes with the live streaming of the games on guyanachess.gy for viewers at home.
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) expresses its sincere gratitude to the Caricom Secretariat for their collaboration in making this historic tournament possible and to the participating member states for competing and visiting our shores.
The GCF says it is incredibly grateful to the sponsors for their generous support. Thanks were expressed to Texila American University, ENet, ExxonMobil, Topco, Republic Bank (Guyana) Ltd, KFC, Guyoil, Starbucks, Optique Vision Care, Rouge Salon and Spa, Platinum Investments, NEW GPC INC, Sterling Products Ltd, Semekiah Supercentre, Regency Mall, Marics & Co Ltd, GSK Inc, Guycan Inc, and Icon Investments who came on board to support the event.
Thanks were also extended to the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel for their support and sponsorship.
The GCF also wishes to acknowledge the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Confederation of Chess for the Americas (CCA) for their kind support.
Furthermore, the Federation expressed immense gratitude to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport for their sponsorship of the event.
The contributions of these sponsors were instrumental in making the event a success, and the GCF could not have done it without their support.
The Board of Directors and the membership are immensely proud of the Guyanese players who represented their country in this inaugural chess tournament. Congratulations are extended to all of them. Thanks to the visiting teams for participating: The Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, and St Lucia.