SURINAMESE JASON YEUNG DEFEATS T&T’s JOSHUA JOHNSON

Trinidadian FM Joshua Johnson suffered his first defeat by checkmate to  Surinamese FM Jason Yeung in Round Seven on Saturday, July 5, 2025, in the  CARICOM Classic Team Chess Tournament underway at the Pegasus Hotel. In a  marathon fighting match that lasted four hours, Yeung closed in on Johnson’s  monarch with his Rook, while a Knight and passed pawn prevented the escape of  the hapless King.  

Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname, both CARICOM nations, ended their round with  an even score of two wins and two draws apiece. Trinidadian FM Kevin Cupid  defeated his youthful Surinamese opponent Ethan Tjin Kon Kiem to balance the  Round Seven fortunes of the Trinidadian team. Female Trinidadian players WFM  Ysvett Hermoso Rodriguez and WCM Zara La Fleur drew with their Surinamese  counterparts WCM Victoria Kaslan and WCM Alexandra Kaslan.  

OTHER ROUND SEVEN HIGHLIGHTS 

Guyana Team B was paired with Dominica in Round Seven last Saturday. CM Sachin  Pitamber’s match ended in a loss for his Dominican counterpart, CM Nigel Francis.  The two opponents reached an endgame with Pitamber’s Knight and six pawns  versus the Dominican’s Bishop and four pawns. Pitamber’s extra pawns, marching  to the promotion and supported by his Knight and active King in the fight,  successfully staged a breakthrough to overwhelm Francis with the material edge. 

Guyana’s Sandiford, in an endgame with four menacing pawns, defeated Edger  Berridge in 32 moves. The pawns, somewhat restricted at the beginning of the  match, became Sandiford’s formidable endgame resource as foot soldiers to  dominate his opponent. In the same round, Guyanese female player Aniyah  Couchman was on the verge of skillfully delivering a smothered checkmate using  her Queen and Knight when her Dominican counterpart Liudmila Domennova  resigned on the 28th move. WCM Sasha Shariff drew her match with Dominican  Ayani Casimir. 

ROUND SIX HIGHLIGHTS 

In Round Six, Guyanese Team B players CM Sachin Pitamber, Keron  Sandiford, Aniyah Couchman, and WCM Sasha Shariff lost to Jamaicans FM Joshua  Christie, FM Shreyas Smith, Amy Stephenson, and Kaia Gayle. CM Pitamber’s  confrontation with FM Joshua Christie concluded in the endgame as Christie began  marching his unchallenged extra two pawns to promotion for a convincing win.  Pitamber resigned on move 50. 

Sandiford faced FM Shreyas Smith where he had to contend with a battle on two  fronts; Smith’s passed pawn occupied the sixth square on the verge of promotion,  coupled with an immobile Bishop about to be captured. In a losing position,  Sandiford gave up the fight on move 34. 

On the distaff side, Aniyah Couchman, in a severely restricted position, lost to  her Jamaican counterpart Amy Stephenson. Stephenson aimed her unchallenged  Queen and Rook to pursue Couchman’s King, which was only defended by a weaker  Rook and Bishop. Couchman conceded the loss soon after to avoid checkmate. 

Shariff was paired with Kaia Gayle, who invaded Shariff’s vulnerable King’s haven  with a Rook on move 37, pinning Shariff’s Queen to the King. Faced with the loss of  a powerful Queen, the Guyanese player resigned on the next move. 

Guyana’s Team A, comprising CM Taffin Khan, Kyle Couchman, WCM Aditi Joshi, and  Ciel Clement, had a strong performance against Dominica on Friday, securing three  wins and a draw. 

Khan, Couchman, and Joshi captured wins from Francis, Berridge, and Domennova,  respectively. Clement drew her encounter with her counterpart Casimir. 

After seven rounds of the nine-round event, the team points standings are Trinidad  & Tobago 13 (24 game points), Jamaica 12 (24.5 game points), Suriname 11 (20.5  game points), Barbados 11 (19 game points), Guyana 10 (18.5 game points),  Cayman Islands 4 (10.5 game points), St. Lucia 6 (11.5 game points) and Dominica  0 (1.5 game points). 

The Under-16 individual category sees a tight race after seven of nine rounds, with  Barbadians Mileke Sinckler and Noah Clarke, and Guyanese Alexander Zhang all tied 

for the lead at 5.5 points. Just half a point behind are Suriname’s Thie-Yen Fung and  Barbados’s Aaron Jaikarran, both with 5 points. 

Results for Rounds Eight and Nine will be finalized as the tournament concludes.  The event features forty players competing in the team categories and forty-eight  vying for the individual Under-16 title. 

The FIDE-rated tournaments are being monitored by FIDE Arbiters, IA Kelvin Daniel  from Barbados, Guyanese John Lee, Reyna Frijde from Suriname, and Jessica  Callender from Guyana. National Arbiters, Kim Shing Chong and Treskole Archibald  are also assisting.