-Ricardo Narine leads after four rounds

RICARDO Narine, the current National Junior Champion, has taken the lead in the 2025 National Open Chess Championship Qualifiers following four rounds of competition.

The qualifiers, which began last weekend at the David Rose Special School in Georgetown, is an eight-round open tournament featuring a classical time control of 90 minutes per player plus a five-second increment per move.

Trailing closely behind with 3.5 points each is Kyle Couchman, Candidate Master (CM) Sachin Pitamber, and Keron Sandiford. WCM Aditi Joshi, Joshua Gopaul, Alexander Zhang, Matthew Singh, Saeed Ali, and Rashad Hussain are all on 3 points each.

The stage is set for a competitive showdown as forty-one players have registered to battle for the nine coveted qualifying positions in the upcoming National Chess Championship. These top contenders will then challenge defending champion, CM Taffin Khan, for the national title, with the championship scheduled to begin on Saturday, May 24th, 2025.

The competition so far has been a challenge of strengths and wits among the players. The fourth round emanated a tense game between top Junior player Couchman and CM Ronuel Greenidge in a gruelling encounter that lasted almost 80 moves. Couchman emerged victorious in an endgame with his two connected passed pawns marching down the board to promotion, forcing his much older opponent to concede a loss. In the first round, seasoned player Gilbert Williams lost to ten-year-old Vir Narine, while Joshi earned a credible draw against experienced player, AFM Davion Mars. U-12 Open Champion, Abel Fernandez Ciria, came close to winning against Ali in round three but missed a checkmate opportunity in four moves.

The outcome of this qualifying tournament holds significant weight, as it determines who will ultimately vie for the title of National Open Chess Champion each year. Defending champion Khan has held this coveted distinction for two consecutive years. The growing strength of talented junior players, however, suggests a particularly intense battle for the championship this year.

Past and present National Junior champions have entered the fray including Saeed Ali (2016), Joshua Gopaul (2018), Keron Sandiford (2023) along with Ricardo Narine (2022 and 2024).

Two-time National Women’s Champion, WCM Jessica Callender (2023 & 2024) and 2025 Women’s Champion WCM Aditi Joshi are also participating in the highly competitive field.

Notable contenders in this year’s qualifier include NIcholas Zhang, Gilbert Williams, Kishan Puran, Kim Shing Chong, Rolex Alexander, and U-12 Girls Champion, Kataleya Sam.

FIDE Arbiters Mr. John Lee, serving as Chief Arbiter, and Mr. Anand Raghunauth are officiating the tournament.

The competition will intensify as the final four rounds resume on May 10 and May 11, 2025. The nine highest-ranking players will be awarded medals and will proceed to the National Chess Championship, where they will compete against each other along with the National Champion in a single Round Robin tournament.

Tournament standings and pairings are available on chessresults.com and guyanachess.gy, with live games streamed on lichess.org.