NEW Amsterdam Secondary familiarly known as NAMS or Multi grabbed four out of the six trophies on offer at the fourth Berbice Inter-School Chess Championship held at the Tagore Memorial Secondary School, No.63 Village, Corentyne, Berbice.
Their haul included the First Prize Team Category.
Only Black Bush Secondary, second prize winners in the Team Category, and Berbice Educational Institute’s (BEI) Darwin London, first prize winner in the Individual Category, prevented a clean sweep
by NAMS.
Thirty-two students from seven schools participated in this year’s Berbice Inter-school Chess Championship.
The youngest competitor was Karishma, age five years eight months, of Port Mourant Primary.
This year’s competition saw, for the first time, a school fielding more than one chess team, when NAMS sent two teams, ‘A’ and ‘B’, and also two players for the Individual Category.
While NAMS’s Team ‘A’ wrested the crown from two-time champions (2011 and 2012) Black Bush Secondary, its Team ‘B’ also managed to share in the glory by claiming the third prize. Moreover,
the second and third prizes in the Individual Category were won by NAMS’s students.
Students from Orealla, who had made their first appearance at last year’s competition, unfortunately were absent from the Championships this year.
It was learnt that these hapless students were all packed on the eve of the Championship and ready to come and participate, only to be denied by an already-packed vessel that could not accommodate them at the Orealla Stelling.
Organiser-Coordinator of the competition, Krishnanand Raghunandan, who is a member of the Region 6 Education Committee and executive committee member of the Guyana Chess Federation, praised
Mr. Andrew Young, a teacher at NAMS, for reviving chess activities and contributing to the school’s stellar performance at the Championships.
He hoped that teachers of other schools could emulate Mr. Young’s interest and commitment to see the game flourish in schools.
As with the three previous Championships, this year’s competition was also funded by the Department of Education, Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) by bearing the cost of meals and travelling expenses of the players and accompanying teachers.
The trophies were sponsored by Nand Persaud & Co. Ltd., Poonai’s Pharmacy, AINLIM, Bibi’s Travel Service, Magistrate Chandra Sohan and family, and Dr. Walter Singh.
Steve Leung conducted the competition which was played according to a round robin format.
He was assisted by Andrew Young, his wife Sarah, and Joseph Brijbilas of Black Bush Secondary.

RESULTS
TEAM CATEGORY:

First Prize Winners: New Amsterdam Secondary Team ‘A’
Second Prize Winners: Black Bush Secondary
Third Prize Winners: New Amsterdam Secondary Team ‘B’

The Team ‘A’ Players were – Jacob Nauth (Captain), Nevin Beeraspat, Desmond Kissoon, and
Zakir Husain.

INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY:

First Prize Winner: Darwin London of Berbice Educational Institute
Second Prize Winner: Junior Seepersaud of NAMS
Third Prize Winner: Floyd Kissoon of NAMS (END).

(By Clifford Stanley)