The Guyana Chess Federation will kick off its annual women and girls tournament from today.
The tournament consists of seven rounds where the players will seek qualification to the championship round slated for April 21. Those seven rounds will be competed at the National Racquet Centre today, tomorrow and next Saturday (April 20).
The final round will be played next Sunday (April 21) where the top 9 performers will qualify to play in the Championship tournament, vying for the title of the 2024 Women’s Chess Champion, coming up against reigning Women’s Champion Jessica Callender, who will be looking to defend her title.
Some notable players on the tournament roster vying for the top spots are Sasha Shariff, runner-up for the 2023 Women’s Chess Championship, Aditi Joshi, current National Under-14 Champion, Shazeeda Rahim, Ciel Clement, Nellisha Johnson and youngsters Chelsea Harrison and Saura Ruplall.
According to the GCF rules, two rounds will be played each day, using the Swiss format with a time control of 90 minutes with 30 seconds of additional time after each move.
The tournament is being sponsored for the second consecutive year by the Diamond Insurance company.
The 2024 Women’s Chess Championship Qualifiers and Chess Championship tourneys are part of the qualifying process for the 45th Chess Olympiad slated for Budapest, Hungary in September of this year.
