Shariff wins Women’s Chess Championship Qualifiers

Sasha Shariff has emerged victorious in the Diamond Insurance Women’s Chess  Championship Qualifiers, finishing with 6.5 points after seven rounds of play. She is  one of ten players who will now advance to the Nationals to pursue the coveted  title, National Women’s Champion. 

Shariff is the lone player heading into Nationals who has held the title before. She  reigned as National Women’s Champion from 2020 to 2022, until current champion  Pooja Lam claimed the title last year. With Lam unable to defend her title this year  due to commitments in her academic studies, Shariff is now the player to beat when  the round-robin Women’s Nationals commences on Thursday, August 10th at  School of the Nations.  

19-year-old Shariff is by far one of the most seasoned competitors in the event. She  holds the title of UG Chess Queen – the top female player at the University of  Guyana. She has represented Guyana at the Batumi Olympiad in 2018, the Chennai  Olympiad in 2022, and many other international chess competitions.  

Coming in second in the qualifying event is National Under-16 Champion Anaya Lall.  As is usually the case for Lall, she is the only deaf chess player competing. And once  again, it has not swayed her on her steadfast path to victory. She finished the  tournament with 5 points, her only loss being her match against Waveney Johnson.  She drew her games with Aditi Joshi and Italy Ton Chung. Lall has also graced the  international stage for Guyana in the International Chess Championship for Persons  with Disabilities and in the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai. She is definitely a player to  watch in the Nationals, having come in 5th in the last year’s Nationals.  

Third place went to former Under 14 Champion, Ciel Clement, also on 5 points but  ranking lower than Lall through the Sonneborn–Berger tie-break employed in GCF  Swiss-system tournaments. 

Waveney Johnson is fourth with 4.5 points after losing against eventual champion  Shariff, stalemating a winning endgame position against Vienna Bharosay and  drawing her games with Jessica Callender and Aniyah Couchman. 

Adia Alphonso and Couchman ranked fifth and sixth with 4.5 points each.  

Callender, Aditi Joshi and Chelsea Harrison all finished on 4 points to take seventh,  eighth and ninth positions and will advance to the Nationals. 

The final qualifying spot went to Italy Ton Chung with 3 points.  

Head of the Women in Chess Committee Marcia Lee was present to award medals  to all ten players advancing to the nationals. Since the Women in Chess Committee  was established under Mrs. Lee’s leadership, the participation of women and girls  in competitive events has increased significantly. More so, creating avenues for  community and bonding among female chess players has added value to the local  chess community by creating spaces for girls to learn from more senior players and  improve their game, narrowing the gender gap in the historically male-dominated  game.  

This Championship could not have been possible without the generous support of  Diamond Fire and General Insurance. As such, the Federation extends its gratitude  for acknowledging the value of this tournament and contributing to the  advancement of chess for women and girls in Guyana. 

Special thanks to the School of the Nations for granting the use of their facilities for  both the Qualifying event and the National Championship.