GUYANA’S Open Chess team, the Women’s side and players who made up the squad for the 2022 FIDE Chess Olympiad in August improved their international rankings, owing to their performance at the biennial tournament, which was hosted this year in Chennai, India.

According to information from the Guyana Chess Federation, the women’s team moved up 16 places and the Open team four places.

Meanwhile, Candidate Master Taffin Khan remains the highest ranked player in the country with 2005 points after playing on Board One for Guyana’s National Open team.

This was Khan’s fourth consecutive Olympiad and he finished on 4.5 points and as the only player for Guyana to play all 11 rounds with no breaks.
FIDE Master Anthony Drayton, who was also playing in his fourth Olympiad, gained 33 rating points to move him to 1961 as the third highest-rated active player in the country.

Loris Nathoo also gained rating points moving up to 1702, while Roberto Neto is at 1651. Ethan Lee, who played in his first Olympiad, is the most highly rated junior player with 1523.

On the Women’s’ side, 12-year-old Anaya Lall, who was previously unrated, gained a rating of 1166 after defeating highly rated players in Chennai. This makes her one of the top-ten rated female players in the country ranking at sixth among rated players and third among active players.

Jessica Callender gained 22 rating points and now has 1319 while Sasha Shariff gained 57 points which takes her to 1240. Both players earned their Conditional Women’s Candidate Master titles which will appear behind their names once they attain ratings of 1800 or above.

For active players listed for Guyana on the FIDE website, the top five-rated females are all from the recent team that competed in the Olympiad. From first to fifth place are Callender, Shariff, Lall, Pooja Lam and Nellisha Johnson.