Engineering student wins T&T chess player of the year award

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC-A veteran player and an engineering student have emerged as Trinidad and Tobago’s top male and female chess players of 2012.

VIDE Master Frank Yee and Aditi Soondarsingh, a student at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, landed the nation’s most prestigious title after capturing the national championship titles in November.

Yee, who has been knocking at the door for over a decade, sealed victory in a close finish at the 11-round, round-robin National Championship.

Soondarsingh was the most outstanding local female player at the August World Chess Olympiad in Turkey where she played on boards 1 and 2, scoring four wins.

It was on the top board that she scored one of the biggest wins of her career, defeating Woman International Master (WIM) Iman Al-Rufaye of Iraq. Soondarsingh became the first T&T female to win against a WIM.

She followed this up with a successful defence of her national female title, playing unbeaten among the ten finalists and winning the coveted title for the eighth time.