TEAM Guyana registered points against Suriname and the Micronesian island of Guam in Round Nine on Sunday at the ongoing FIDE Chess Olympiad, which is currently underway in Chennai, India.
Fide Master (FM) Anthony Drayton (1928 rating) led the charge with a victory against Candidate Master (CM) Romario Sanches (2066) to earn a point for the Open team, in their battle against Suriname.

CM Taffin Khan drew his match with Surinamese FM Viresh Giasi in that battle, which earned Guyana’s Open team a total of 1.5 points.
Khan and Drayton, the two top players in the squad, are tied on 3.5 points each.

On the women’s side, 12-year-old Anaya Lall drew her match with Guam’s Jasmine Ramas, earning her half-of-a-point after a five-hour battle, while Sasha Shariff battled back from a losing position during the endgame to force a draw against Ruth Nacario.

Shariff, Lall, Pooja Lam and Jessica Callender were scheduled to play against Timor-Leste, while the Open team players were carded to face Burundi.
Meanwhile, two of Guyana’s top female players, Shariff and Callender, have earned their Women Candidate Master’s titles.

Callender earned hers on Friday, during Round Seven of the event, while Shariff earned hers on Saturday.
The WCM titles will be added to their names once they achieve rating points over 1800.
Prior to the Olympiad, Shariff’s rating was at 1183 and Callender 1295.