Youth strides in chess

When the seven-round Diamond Fire and General Insurance Women’s Chess Championship Qualifiers ends today at the School of the Nations, Georgetown, the winner is likely to be either former women’s national champion Sasha Shariff or Jessica Callender.

At the time of writing this column, Shariff was leading with 3½ points and Callender was in the second spot with 3 points. Shariff had scored three victories and one draw. The draw was against Callender, who had drawn two games.