AQUILANI Swaminadha defeated an American player, while he gained a walkover from a Peruvian yesterday on day three, in rounds five and six respectively, of the FIDE Cadet and Youth Online Rapid World Cup. The eight-year-old, who is part of a Guyana four-member team in the U-10 division, has so far registered three wins in his six rounds.
After failing to record a point in the opening two rounds, the School of the Nations student rebounded in round three on Monday with a win against Zimbabwean player Jordan Gweshe.
He then lost to Indian player Sharma Madhvendra Pratap in round four before he got past U.S. player Sanskrit Jaiswal in round five. In round six, he registered a walkover win against Adriano Coaquira. Swaminadha is leading Guyana’s U-10 players with his three points, while Julian Mohabir and Nicholas Zhang have so far registered two points each, with Jacob McDonald on one point.

Eight-year-old Mohabir won against Arsh Mathur in round three and Gayle Raheem of Jamaica in round six, while nine-year-old Nicholas gained a bye in round three before he had defeated Raheem in round four. Meanwhile, fellow nine-year-old Jacob McDonald registered a surprising win against a quality-rated player from Malta, Nick Calleja (1087) in round two.
The youngsters have four more rounds of games before the older age group players compete. In total, Guyana is being represented by 22 players at various age levels.
Over 1 600 participants from more than 100 countries are competing in the World Cup.