THE Guyana Chess Federation has named its team for the FIDE Online World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships which is scheduled for December.

This event will comprise five different age groups (U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16, and U-18), competing in two sections: open and girls.

Initially the federation had named five males and five females for the first-ever online games, but Rajiv Lee opted out due to CSEC commitments.

Another big name that is missing from the list is Samira Gobin.

Guyana would, however, be represented by its reigning women’s champion Sasha Shariff and a string of quality age-group players.

Shariff, 16, who emerged victorious in the GCF U-20 female chess competition for the month of October, is expected to represent the U18 division.

Other female players selected in the side include Anasie Fredericks in the U-16 division, Mahilia Rajkumar in the U-14, Harmony Dodson in the U-12 and Anaya Lall in the U-10.

Ethan Lee was selected to represent the U-18 division, while his younger brother Ronan would be the male representative in the U-14 division. Meanwhile, Kyle Couchman and Arysh Raghunauth were selected to compete in the U-12 and the U-10 divisions respectively.

Rajiv Lee’s replacement would be confirmed over the weekend. Rajiv is not related to the Lee brothers.

GCF has been proactive during the pandemic. With scores of new players learning the game, it did not fully prepare for this level of competition since it was only announced a few weeks back.

Nevertheless, chairperson for Chess in Schools, Anand Raghunauth, told the Guyana Chronicle that the players have had practice.

Sessions with International Master Atanu Lahiri have improved the youngsters’ game play.

Coach Lahiri is a former Commonwealth chess champion, who had stints as head coach of Nepal (2005) and Bhutan (2014) before he took charge of the Indian Youth, Junior and Cadet teams.

Since early October the Indian coach has held classes once per week with U-20 and U-16 (which include some strong U-12s) players.