NATIONAL junior chess player Sheriffa Ali maximised on her stay in Suriname with a first place finish in a blitz chess tournament last Sunday in Paramaribo.
After helping Guyana to a second place chess finish in the just concluded Inter-Guiana Games (IGG), the 15-year-old (the youngest in the travelling chess team) won seven and drew one of her nine games (20 minutes each) to win the level three (bishop) category in the Loper Klasse Open Rapid 2014 competition.
“Suriname plays a high level of chess and most of the players were very competitive,” the soft spoken youngster stated.
Along with the win, Ali has now achieved a blitz rating. She will, however, have to wait until December for that information, since rankings are updated every three months.
At the IGG, Ali won two of her three games. She got past the challengers from French Guiana and Suriname’s B team, but lost to Suriname’s A side.
Roberto Neto, who was also a member of the IGG chess team finished third in the level five (queen) category at the blitz tournament. As Ali, he also won two of his three games at the IGG, while team captain and national junior champion Haifeng Su won two games and drew one at IGG. Jessica Clementston was the other member of the IGG chess team while Wendell Muesa (national senior champion) travelled as coach.
