The Inter Guiana Chess Competition held over the weekend in Paramaribo, Suriname, came to an exuberant conclusion as the Guyanese team won the silver medal after losing to Suriname.
Guyana’s junior players faced off against their Guianas counterparts, and the result was nothing short of spectacular – our boys and girls did not disappoint.
The Guyana male team consisting of Ricardo Narine, Kyle Couchman, Alexander Zhang and Nicholas Zhang scored five points in the three-round tourney, with 1.5 points against Suriname in Round 2 and 3.5 points against French Guiana in Round 3. The team played their first game on November 18th against Suriname in Round 2. In the battle between the two countries, Suriname came out victorious.
Starting with board 1 for the male team, young Kyle Couchman impressed even the Suriname coaches with his brilliant strategic plays in the complicated positions against Jason Yeung, who has an ELO rating of 1951. Couchman, with absolute will, fought to make his team proud and bring home the win for his country but fell short after making a critical error on the kingside, causing him to make some poor exchanges and creating pawn weakness for himself. However, young Couchman, with resilience beyond his years, used his knowledge to create counter play on the queenside with a passed pawn and take the game by force. Unfortunately, it was not enough, as the damage to his kingside was too extensive, eventually losing to his Surinamese counterpart.
Ricardo Narine on Board 2 anchored the male team by destroying his Suriname opponent to quickly bring home the win by probing his opponent’s defences across the board, looking for weaknesses then reaching the endgame with a rook against 2 pawns. Narine also played brilliantly against the French Guiana opponent to claim a draw at will.
Alexander Zhang on Board 3 showed massive growth in these games after dominating his Suriname opponent in the opening, but the game eventually settled down to a draw in the endgame after Alexander made a fatal blunder when he sacrificed his extra bishop. In Round 3, Alexander completely crushed his French Guiana opponent with ease.
On Board 4, the younger Nicholas Zhang lost to his Suriname opponent in a seemingly drawn endgame. Zhang fought a valiantly – a battle of strategy in the French opening – but the inexperienced young player could not hold on to the drawn position and eventually collapsed at the end, giving the win to Suriname.
Suriname finally won Round 2 – 2.5-1.5, and Guyana defeated French Guiana in Round 3 – 3.5-0.5.
The tourney ended with Suriname winning the Gold, Guyana Silver and French Guiana Bronze.
The Guyana female team consisting of Aniyah Couchman, Italy Ton-Chung, Aditi Joshi and Maliha Rajkumar had the most impressive show, putting the Suriname team to the test in the Double round-robin match.
On Board 1, Italy Ton-Chung defended Guyana’s honour by fighting courageously to score a point against Suriname’s top female player WCM Victoria Kaslan. Kaslan was victorious in both games, as experience proved to be the deciding factor.
On Board 2, 13-year-old, Aditi Joshi played a perfect game to crush her opponent with style and brilliance, giving the impression that she will be one of those unstoppable forces to look out for in future. In the second game, however, Joshi found herself in a losing position after miscalculating her tactics, which led to a devastating loss.
Board 3, played by Aniyah Couchman, who completely dominated her opponent in Game 1 with tactics and sacrifices, but lost her grip on her opponent which allowed her opponent an easy defence against Couchman’s crushing blows, and eventually converted to winning endgame after winning a pawn. Couchman played a strategic battle of Knights vs Knights in Game 2. She fought to the bitter end as the endgame approached and her time dwindling, her opponent managed to gain material and win the game.
Playing on Board 4, Maliha Rajkumar impressed us all by completely demolishing her opponent in both games, showing the true spirit of Guyanese chess. Her will and determination shone through, anchoring the female team and proving that even after only a few weeks of training by Coach Drayton and well-thought-out preparation, hard work pays off.
The girls scored three points against Suriname’s five, with Suriname taking the Gold and Guyana – the Silver.
The team was coached by FM Anthony Drayton, whose tireless work with the young players, before and during the tournament, led to such a favourable result. Mr Drayton’s knowledge and experience in international team events catalyzed team building and collaboration.
The Guyana Chess Federation is proud of our young, talented players and hopes that competitions of this nature continue in the future. The players were exposed to international competition and friendly rivalry, which will boost their confidence and encourage play. Thanks are extended to the coach FM Anthony Drayton, Mrs. Preya Rajkumar and Mrs. Joshi. The GCF also wishes to thank the National Sports Commission and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport for organizing a well turned-out event.
