Constant practice was largely responsible for Queen’s College being successful at the recently-concluded National Schools Chess Championships, according to captain of the team Cecil Cox.
According to a press release, Cox who was a former national junior chess champion stated that his teammates Ashwant Satamand, Shane Rampertab, Vickram Pattiram along with himself practicedconstantly leading up to the competition and met at the school’s chess club on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Queen’s College ‘A’ played undefeated in their seven matches, finishing with six points as they won five and drew with West Demerara ‘B’ who placed second with five and a half points and Bishops’ High School ‘A’ who placed third in the team competition with five points.
Seasoned campaigner Saeed Ali of Richard Ishmael, a regular face in national junior chess tournaments, placed first with no losses as he drew two matches with Ron Motilall of St. Joseph’s High and Joshua Pedro of Bishops’.
Pedro secured second place while Davion Mars of St. Stanislaus College was third. Three other players were tied with Mars, Bobby Samuels of Queen’s College, Roberto Neto of Diamond Secondary and Orlanzo Boyce of St. Joseph’s High, the release noted.
Meanwhile at the presentation ceremony held immediately after the tournament, Director of Sport Neil Kumar declared his support for chess and urged the young players to continue playing the game, now a regular feature at the Inter-Guiana Games.
Kumar also promised that a chess coach would be made available to assist players.
Nearly 80 students from almost 20 schools took part in the championships at the Guyana National Stadium which was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in collaboration with the Guyana Chess Federation.
