Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Sheriffa Ali is the sole leader after three rounds of the Guyana Chess Federation’s junior qualification tournament following two wins Sunday.
Playing at the National Resource Centre, Ali, who defeated Shivanie Persaud in the opening round on Saturday, defeated Jaden Taylor in the second and John Wong in the third round to move to the maximum three points.
She was helped by the fact that her two biggest challengers, her brother Saeed and national player Roberto Neto, drew their third round match after winning their second round matches easily.
Neto defeated Joshua Gopaul in the second round while Ali bested Ghasham Allijohn. They are both on two-and-a-half points.
In other second round results, Wong defeated Jessica Callender; Aravinda Singh outplayed Asiyah Bacchus; Nellisha Johnson got the better of Kristoff Persaud; Akili Theophil defeated Shivranie Persaud and Aleem Baseer won against Anthony Johnson.
In the third round, Callender defeated Nellisha Johnson; Baseer lost to Gopaul; Bacchus was stopped by Allijohn; Taylor beat Waveney Johnson and Theophil won against Aravinda Singh.
Callender, Gopaul, Wong and Taylor are on two points each while Singh, Kristoff Persaud, Baseer, Waveney Johnson, Nellisha Johnson Bacchus and Anthony Johnson are on one point each.
The competition will resume this weekend and following its conclusion the top eight players will contest the national Closed championships for the vacant title of national junior chess champion.
