VERSATILE junior chess players Sachin Pitamber and Kyle Couchman outplayed senior and junior players alike, and emerged clear winners in separate rapid/blitz chess tournaments contested at School of the Nations during the last weekend of December 2023.

Thirteen-year-old Pitamber amassed eight- and-a-half out of a possible nine points and won the first-place cash prize of $50,000 in the Open category of the Rapid Tournament on Saturday, December 30, 2023.

FIDE Master Anthony Drayton earned second just under Pitamber with eight points, and received the $30,000 cash prize. Veteran player Justino Da Silva came in third with six-and-a-half points; he received the $20,000 prize.

The Best Female prize of $20,000 went to 14-year-old junior Ciel Clement. This is a commendable accomplishment for Clement, who continues to improve her game.

In the U-20 category of the same competition, first place went to Ricardo Narine, who scored 7.5 points. The former Junior Champion was awarded a cash prize of $30,000. Reigning Junior Champion Keron Sandiford also secured 7.5 points with second place on the tie-breaker; he was awarded $20,000. The third position went to junior player Alexander Zhang with 7 points; he received $10,000.

Best female in the U-20 category went to up-and-coming 13-year-old Aditi Joshi, who managed to hold her own against rated players; she received a $10,000 cash prize.

On New Year’s Eve, the blitz tournament saw repeated participation by some players. Young Couchman emerged as the winner, finishing with 7.5 points. The 14-year-old was awarded $20,000.

Coming in second place was Sandiford, who also tied with 7.5 points and received a cash prize of $15,000. Justino DaSilva defended his spot with 7 points as he earned third place and $5,000.
The Best Female prize again went to Aditi Joshi, who received a $5,000 cash award.

The Guyana Chess Federation executed several tournaments in the 2023 game season for their male and female, junior and senior players to earn, maintain or improve their rankings. The end of the year was no different for the organisers, and, as expected, there was an excellent turnout of players to compete. The events saw almost 30 competitive chess players vying for the top 3 rankings in the two One-Day chess tournaments.

For context, rapid and blitz chess games have the same rules as classical chess, but each player has much shorter time limits to score victories. Chess players were each allotted 15 minutes with five-second increments and 5 minutes with five-second increments for the respective events. For both competitions, the Open category contested was for First, Second, Third, and Best Female positions. The Under-20 category contested for First, Second, Third, and Best Female positions.