Guyana’s eight-member chess team narrowly missed out on a trophy placing sixth at the recent CARIFTA Chess championships in Suriname, a press release from the Guyana Chess Federation stated.
According to the tournament regulations, the first five CARIFTA Member Countries received trophies while gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the first three finishers in each official category by age and gender.
Organised by the Confederation of Chess for the Americas (CCS) in conjunction with the Surinaamse Schaakbond, the tournament was open to all CARIFTA Member Countries.
The countries participating were Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Curacao, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and hosts Suriname.
It was the first time the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) was fielding a team to the event which was in its seventh year.
The championships, which ran from March 29-April 3 was won by Suriname which incidentally had the largest contingent of 104 players.
Guyana’s contingent of eight players recorded a total of 21 points from 56 games in the junior chess championship held over the Easter Weekend.
Guyana’s Ronan Lee, competing in the Under 12 Absolute category finished on 2.5 points while Chelsea Juma in the U16 women’s competition ended on one and one half points.
Guyana fielded four competitors in the U16 Absolute category with Ghansham Allijohn and Jaden Taylor ending with three points while Ethan Lee ended on two and one half points and Shasha Shariff on two points.
Hinterland sensation, Nellisha Johnson ended on one and one half points in the U20 Open category while Joshua Gopaul ended on two and one half points.
All of the Guyanese players were unrated prior to the championships but upon its conclusion, Nellisha Johnson is now rated 1037, Joshua Gopaul, 1219, Juma, 929, Ronan Lee, 959, Shariff, 802, Allijohn, 1158, Taylor, 1095 and Ethan Lee, 1193, the GCF, reported.
The team was coached by National Coach, Wendell Meusa and accompanied by three parents.
