Chess teams lose final round matches

Guyana’s male and female chess teams went under to Lesotho and Palestine respectively at the 42nd annual Chess Olympiad which ended yesterday in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The men’s team went under by one-and-one-half points to two-and-one-half points to Lesotho while the women lost 1-3 to Palestine.

Against Lesotho, Anthony Drayton lost to Tokelo Klaas on board one, Taffin Khan drew his board two encounter with Latela Kananelo, Haifeng Su beat Joang Molapo in their board three clash and Roberto Neto lost to Thabang Maepe on board four.

Maria Varona-Thomas
Maria Varona-Thomas
Haifeng Su
Haifeng Su

The men’s team finished with two wins, one draw and eight losses.

In the women’s section, Maria Varona-Thomas continued her impressive showing with yet another victory on board one defeating fellow Woman Candidate Master Rahaf Faqeeh. But losses by Yolander Persaud to Anwar Albooz, Sheriffa Ali to Aseel Faqeeh and Julia Clementson to Yara Faqeeh sealed the team’s defeat.

The women finished with seven defeats, two draws and two wins.

The Open section of the event was won by the USA while China won the women’s event.