-Xavier flawless en route to inaugural Girls title

ALEXANDER Zhang stormed to championship honours when the Guyana Chess Federation, DeSinco National U-12 Rapid Championships Open Division was contested on Saturday afternoon online.

Eleven-year-old Kristin Xavier also dominated as she played flawlessly in the first-ever Girls’ U12 championship.

The first chess competition for 2022, which was held online, saw 45 youngsters (16 girls and 29 boys) battling on the Tornelo.com platform in seven rounds of a Swiss Format with a time control of 15 minutes and two-second increments.

OPEN DIVISION
Eleven-year-old Alexander Zhang finished with six points from his seven games. He drew against his younger brother Nicholas Zhang and Arysh Raghunauth.

Nicholas finished second on 5 ½ points, only losing to Mayas Khan, who secured the third position on five points ahead of Jacob McDonald.

Six-year-old Landon Mohabir, who also finished on five points, won the U-10 division. He excelled against a few other seasoned opponents, including Mahir Rajkumar in round seven.

Adam Rahaman and Alek Ubaldo–Singh finished second and third respectively.

In the U-8 division, Vir Narine finished ahead of Javier Davenand on the podium.

DOMINANT XAVIER
One of the surprises of last Saturday’s battle was the dominance of Xavier, who cemented her status in the inaugural event.

She faced a stiff battle and weathered the attacks against national player, Anaya Lall, en route to victory.

Lall was a close second with six points, while eight-year-old Kataleya Sam was third on five points.

In the U-10 girls’ division, Skyler Gurchuran placed first with Nemisha Jagmohan and Saudia Deo finishing second and third respectively.

Meanwhile, five-year-old Isabella Shariff copped the U-8 title.

Notable games from the tightly contested Open category also came from McDonald, Rajkumar, Arysh Raghunauth, Julian Mohabir, Tejasvarun Kandavel, Omar Shariff, Ethen Pompey and Vivek Persaud.

And from the Girls’ Division, impressive displays also came from Alayna Ally, Faraa Gaskin, Ariana Munroe, Daivya Jagmohan, Aditi Joshi, Athena Gilkes, Mira Kivik and Neeharika Shetty.