Sasha Shariff recorded her first point in the FIDE chess Olympiad in Chennai, India in Round four of the tournament against Haiti.
Shariff defeated Theophane Paul from Haiti, who is ranked 1493, giving her an opportunity to improve her rating points from 1183.
According to a release to the media, it means that each member of the Guyanese women’s team with the exception of Anaya Lall, now has one point with seven rounds left to go.
In round three, the women defeated Laos when Pooja Lam, Nellisha Johnson and Jessica Callender scored wins and won the match 3-1.
12-year-old Anaya Lall, who is the reserve player, made her debut in round five along with team members Nellisha Johnson, Jessica Callender and Pooja Lam. They face off against Malawi seeded at 121 as against Guyana’s women at 136.
On the men’s side Taffin Khan, Anthony Drayton, Loris Nathoo and Roberto Neto fought valiantly to secure wins against the Jamaican team in round four but to no avail. Jamaica is positioned at 108 in the world.
Round five will be played on Tuesday with the Guyana Open team facing off against Namibia who is seeded at 121 as against Guyana’s 152. Players are Taffin Khan, Anthony Drayton, Loris Nathoo and Ethan Lee.
The FIDE Congress is also being held in Chennai from July 31 to August 9th with the General Assembly and Elections set for August 7 where a new President for FIDE will be elected.
This event is being attended by Guyana Chess Federation’s President, Frankie Farley.
Games continue daily with one round per day and are being played at the Four Points by Sheraton Mahabalipuram Resort and Convention Centre.
Play starts daily at 15:00 Indian Time – 05:30 Guyana.
Links to live games can be found on the Guyana Chess Federation Website: www.guyanachess.org.
