Upset victories headline Century 21 Grand Prix opening weekend

After five rounds, reigning Junior Chess Champion Keron Sandiford is leading the Open category, while seasoned female player Shazeeda Rahim is dominating her division in the first CENTURY 21 Grand Prix tournament of 2024, setting the pace for this year’s lineup of tournaments.
The two-category tournament has not been without surprising outcomes, adding to the excitement of who will hold the Grand Prix One title in the respective Open and Women’s divisions.
The women’s category saw an excellent return by Rahim to classical chess, and she is so far undefeated. The five rounds played over the weekend produced record upsets, when reigning women’s champion Jessica Callender suffered a double defeat to Rahim and QC student Ciel Clement. The surprise from 14-year-old Clement came during their Round One encounter. Clement successfully checkmated her higher-ranked opponent in a marathon 4 hour, 100 move game, after promoting a pawn to a new and powerful Queen in the endgame.

In their Round Five encounter, Callender resigned to the experienced Rahim after 35 moves. The match saw Callender giving up the fight after losing material and falling prey to an invading Rook, which forced her vulnerable King into the path of Rahim’s Bishop, which was waiting to pin her Queen to the monarch, effectively sealing a lost position.
In the Open Division, top player Anthony Drayton also went down with double defeats: one to reigning Junior Champion Keron Sandiford and the other to quickly developing Under-14 rapid champion Kyle Couchman.

The points standings of the leading players in the Open category are Keron Sandiford with four, Couchman on three and a half, Gilbert Williams and Loris Nathoo three apiece, Justino Da Silva and Pitamber on two and a half, and Anthony Drayton on two.
In the female category, Shazeeda Rahim takes the lead with five, Aditi Joshi secured four, and Jessica Callender, Ciel Clement and Sasha Shariff are on three each.
The final three rounds of the eight-round tournament are scheduled for this week.