… Guyana’s U-14s to compete from today

THE National U-12 Open team and the U-16 Girls squad ended their 10 rounds of the Youth Online Rapid Chess World Cup with Alexander Zhang and Adia Alphonso leading the charge.
Both players registered wins yesterday on the last day of their respective competitions.

Zhang, 11, who finished with three points in the U-12 Open,, was able to use his tactics against rated player Andreas Kyriakides (1153) from Cyprus in Round Nine.
He sacrificed his Queen in a forced checkmate.

Mahir Rajkumar, who was outstanding in the earlier rounds, battled well against South Africa’s Remoletile Shuping, but he lost that clash. In the end, experience played a big deal for the pre-teen local chess players. Rajkumar and fellow 10-year-old Omar Shariff finished on two points each, while Enoe Micaiah finished on one point.

In the U-16 Girls’ division, Alphonso registered a few late wins including one in the tenth round yesterday against Aditi Anant from Cyprus to finish with 3.5 points. The 14-year-old had defeated Panamanian Paola Lopez in Round Eight after gaining a bye in Round Seven and a draw against Bolivian player Rebecca Barnor in Round Five. Her U-16 Girls’ partner, Aniyah Couchman finished with 1.5 points in the competition.

Meanwhile, the U-14 Open and the U-14 Girls’ team are set to battle from today in the World Cup.

Guyana is represented by Emmanuel Primus in the U-14 Open and Maliha Rajkumar, Italy Ton-Chung, Naila Rahaman and Pooja Lam in the Girls’ division.

Rajkumar is into her second year in the championships and should be able to use her experience to her advantage.
The World Cup has over 1 600 players from more than 100 countries competing.