The Guyana Chess Feder-ation’s national qualification tournament for selection to the national championships starts on Saturday at Kei Shar’s Sports Club on Hadfield Street.

The national qualification tournaments would be played in two categories for senior chess players and a tournament will be held for the junior chess players. All players must be Guyanese by birth or naturalization to be eligible to play in either tourney.

In the senior qualification tournament the seven top finishers would proceed to the national championships. Kriskal Persaud, the current national champion, is automatically seeded and therefore would not participate in the qualification tournament.

In the junior category, the top eight finishers will go forward to the nationals. Taffin Khan was last year’s national junior champion but he is playing among the seniors and is therefore not seeded in the junior category. A new junior chess champion is to be crowned this year following the results of the national championships.

This year’s national qualification tournament for the senior players promises to be a rigorous one. Wendell Muesa, Loris Nathoo, Taffin Khan, Shiv Nandalall and Learie Webster are all among the favourites to win the tournament.

The field is open among the juniors and there seems to be no clear favourite in this category.

The games will be played on Saturdays and Sundays for one and a half hours per player and game.