Newcomer to the chess scene, FIDE Master Rawle Allicock, played unbeaten in the eight-round classical style I-CEE sponsored competition, which concluded last Sunday at the School of the Nations. The fifty-five-year-old Guyanese by birth returned home to join the local ranks in the chess arena. Allicock finished with an astounding 7.5 points after playing unbeaten in the Open Category. His only point drop was his draw against fellow FIDE Master Anthony Drayton.
Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Aditi Joshi, and National Women’s Chess Champion, also played unbeaten in her category, finishing with 7.5 points, with her only draw in the tournament coming against young Kataleya Sam.
In the open category, second-place winner FM Drayton settled for a draw after the duel with his counterpart CM Sachin Pitamber.
Keron Sandiford took third place, finishing with six points, losing to FMs Drayton in the fifth round and Allicock in the penultimate round of the tournament.
Sandiford’s game with Allicock ended after 45 moves. Allicock’s Rooks posed a serious threat to Sandiford’s King and threatened checkmate. Sandiford resigned soon after, giving the FM the full point.
CM Sachin Pitamber placed fourth with 5.5 points after a surprising loss to Prince Dunn early in the competition in Round 2.
In the final Round of the tournament, Allicock faced Pitamber, and both players displayed aggressive intent.
The intense battle between the two was evidently a clash of generations. The young Candidate Master (CM) experienced severe time trouble as he resisted his FM opponent and fought to hold his King’s delicate position. In the final move of their match, Allicock’s extra pawn was poised for promotion to a stronger piece and to execute checkmate. Pitamber resigned on move 53. His half point resulted from a draw against Drayton in the sixth round.
Kyle Couchman (5 points) also went down to Allicock and Drayton in the sixth and eighth rounds, respectively. Couchman suffered a crushing defeat against Joshua Gopaul in the second round. Couchman lost in an endgame with Drayton in the final Round as well. The National Junior Champion played with only a pawn down but resigned after just over 60 moves to Drayton’s decisive position.
Gilbert Williams, Prince Dunn, Alexander Zhang, Micaiah Enoe and Alex Ubaldo Singh rounded up the top ten positions with 5 points each.
WCM Joshi scored a full point in her match with former Women’s Champion WCM Jessica Callender in Round Six. Callender’s King was lured and entrapped on her opponent’s side with no defence against checkmate. Their hard-fought battle ended after 40 moves.
Earlier in Round Three, the reigning Women’s Champion met WCM Sasha Shariff, who was outplayed and conceded after losing a Rook to her opponent.
Ciel Clement finished with an impressive second place with 6.5 points. Her only lost game was against Joshi in the fourth round. Her draw was against Shariff. Shariff took the third spot with 5.5 points, with her only loss against Joshi.
Kataleya Sam, the National U-12 Girls Chess Champion, performed splendidly with 5 points, with her only loss against Ciel Clement. Sam drew with Joshi, Shariff, Callender and Italy Ton-Chung.
Callendar also finished on 5 points, and Italy Ton-Chung 4.5 points, while Saura Ruplall, Parnita Kishun, Sana Sreebalakumar, Olivia Rajmangal and Maliha Rajkumar all finished on 4 points each.
The tournament was overseen by FIDE Arbiter John Lee, who also live-streamed the top twelve boards for viewers at home. Results were published on chess results.com.
Cash prizes, sponsored by I-CEE, totalling $100,000 were awarded to the top three players for each category.
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) would like to extend its gratitude to I-CEE for once again coming on board to support chess in Guyana and to the School of the Nations for providing the venue.
Interested persons can follow the GCF on Facebook and Instagram. All information about chess clubs and how to join the federation can be found on guyanachess.gy.
