THE Guyana Chess Federation will run off an U12 one-day competition next week.

The DeSinco Limited National Under-12 Rapid Championships will be held online on tornelo com on January 15 from 14:00hrs.
The championship would have players battle in an Open division and a Girls’ division.

Prizes will be presented to the first-, second- and third-place finishers in both categories, the best U10 player and the best U8 player.
Under the federation’s rules, U12s are classfied as players born after January 1, 2010.

Some of the big names expected for next week’s championship include: Mahir Rajkumar, Anaya Lall, Nicholas and Alexander Zhang, Arysh Raghunauth and Omar Shariff.

Junior chess has exploded online since the pandemic started. The drive has been orchestrated and continues to be proficiently executed by the likes of Anand Raghunauth, Marcia Lee, John Lee, Loris Nathoo, Taffin Khan and Davion Mars.

As in previous tournaments, it is also expected that new talent will be discovered.