Eight-year-old Julian Mohabir Saturday produced the biggest upset of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) De Sinco-sponsored National Junior Chess Championship Qualifiers when he defeated Keron Sandiford in the first round.
Playing at the Providence National Stadium, Sandiford, the second highest rated player in the tournament at 1529, resigned immediately after committing a blunder.
Sandiford, however, won his second round match against another top player Oluwadare Oyeyipo to remain in contention.
Saturday’s second round too saw an upset with Ronan Lee snatching a victory over another top-rated player Jaden Taylor.
“After a tense struggle for power in the opening, the two launched into a series of tactical piece trades and captures in the middle game. Lee grabbed an advantage against Taylor and held it to the end, converting the game methodically into a comfortable win,” a release from the GCF stated.
However it was another Lee, Rajiv, the tournament’s highest rated player at 1529, who ended the day as the tournament leader after withstanding some early threats from 10-year-old Jacob McDonald to finish the day with two points, the same as Ronan Lee and Raveon Adonis.
Jessica Callender is also on two points with back-to-back victories after an early exit from the recent Grand Prix tournament due to injury.
She registered wins against Emmanuel Primus and Mohabir.
Other players on two points are Anasie Fredericks, Pooja Lam, Dominic Sam, Mayas Khan, Ethan Lee, Sasha Shariff, Rolex Alexander, Kyle Couchman, Justin Goberdhan, Tejasvarun Kandavel, Maliha Rajkumar and Ricardo Narine.
The tournament has attracted a record 68 players
from Regions 2, 3, 4, 6 and 10.
It ends tomorrow where the top 10 players will be involved in a round robin competition for the 2022 National Junior Championship.
“Saturday’s turnout marked a promising resurgence in popularity for junior chess in Guyana,” said the GCF in its release.
Boards 1 to 6 is being stream live on guyanachess.org and you-tube commencing at 9 am and at 2 pm each day.
