Tournament favourite Roberto Neto played undefeated to win the National Junior Qualifiers. He was closely followed by siblings Saeed Anwar Ali and Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Sheriffa Ali.
Travelled as the reserved player of the national team that attended the 42nd Chess Olympiad, which was recently held in Baku, Azerbaijan, Neto finished with a massive undefeated 6.5 points from the allocated 7 games. Those points came from six wins and a draw.
His closest rival, Saeed Ali, was one point behind on 5.5 points, while Sheriffa Ali finished third with five points. The players finishing fourth to sixth were Joshua Gopaul with five points, and Ghansham Allijohn and Jaden Taylor with four points each.
The three attend the Stanislaus College and are part of the Saints Chess Club. Former Queen’s College student, Aravinda Singh, made his return to chess with a fighting four points. To complete the group of qualified players was Nellisha Johnson of Christ Church Secondary, who played a hard-fought last game to claim her spot. She clinched the spot ahead of sister Waveney Johnson on tie-breaker, after they both finished with four points.
The National Junior Chess Championship will be held in two weeks time. These qualified players will participate in a round-robin showdown to determine Guyana’s 2016 National Junior Champion.
The Guyana Chess Federation would like to extend sincere thanks to Director of Sports Christopher Jones and the National Sports Commission for allowing the use of the National Resource Centre and the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall for the qualifiers.
Photo caption: From left: Joshua Gopaul, WCM Sheriffa Ali, Saeed Ali, Roberto Neto, Aravinda Singh and National Coach CM Wendell Meusa. Missing from photo are Nellisha Johnson, Jayden Taylor and Ghansham Allijohn
