The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) continues its 2026 Chess Olympiad qualification process with the I-CEE-sponsored Grand Prix III Chess tournament this weekend at the David Rose Special School, Georgetown. The first four rounds will be played on Saturday, January 24th, and Sunday, January 25th, with the remaining four rounds continuing on January 31st and February 1st, 2026.
The eight-round Swiss tournament features a classical time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. Competing in the Open/Absolute Category are top seeds FM Rawle Allicock, FM Anthony Drayton, CM Taffin Khan, Kyle Couchman, CM Sachin Pitamber, and Keron Sandiford. They will be joined by a competitive field of junior and senior players, all vying for crucial ranking points and invaluable experience in the classical format.
In the Female category, we will see experienced and seasoned players, such as WCM Aditi Joshi, WCM Sasha Shariff, WCM Jessica Callendar, Ciel Clement, Treskolé Archibald, and junior player Kataleya Sam, competing for the top spots.
Cash prizes totalling $100,000 will be awarded to the top three finishers in each category. The top eight boards of the open category and top four boards for the female category will be live-streamed on lichess.org by John Lee, FIDE Arbiter and Technical Director for the GCF. Results and pairings can be viewed on chess
results.com.
At the presentation of the sponsorship cheque, GCF PR Director Mr. Shiv Nandalall expressed gratitude to the company on behalf of the GCF for a successful collaboration in 2026. Brand Manager of I-CEE Soft Drinks, Mr. Clayton McKenzie, remarked, “Banks DIH is pleased to collaborate with the GCF in its third Olympiad 2026 Qualifiers Grand Prix chess tournament through our I-CEE brand.”
The federation also expresses thanks to the David Rose Special School for their partnership in providing the tournament venue.
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