Guyana women’s team won but the men lost as play in the
43rd World Chess Olympiad in Batumi Georgia, continued yesterday.
Led by Nellisha Johnson and Woman candidate Master Sheriffa Ali and aided by drawms from Maria Varona Thomas and Sasha Shariff, the women defeated Mauritius 3-1.
The men’s team, however lost 1-3 to Malta in round seven yesterday.
Surprisingly female national champion Women FIDE Master (WFM) Varona-Thomas settled for a draw against the lower rated Aamirah Beekhy who had a winning position.
Young Shariff was also fortunate to escape with half a point against Anupriya Dindoyal who was in a clearly better position.
Ali demolished Uvika Essoo’s Scandinavian Defense with some fine tactics while Johnson, in a losing position won after her opponent Chethanah Andhin left her Queen en prise, clearly a mistake when she played (25.f4).
The men’s team only win came from Candidate Master Anthony Drayton who turned to the sharp Paulsen Variation of the Sicilian Defense to secure his fourth win. CM Robert Zerafa misplayed the opening and allowed Drayton to gain early control of the centre and active play which was more than enough for him to force a win. However, his fellow teammates had no such luck and they all lost to players who were rated over 2000 ELO.
CM Taffin Khan lost with the White pieces in a very unorthodox Queen’s pawn (d4) opening to the highest rated Malta player CM Colin Pace (2132).
Loris Nathoo continues to have a rough tournament this time losing to Jake Darmanin (2069) after misplaying the Ruy Lopez Closed variation while Glenford Corlette with the White pieces went for the Exchange variation of the French Defense that his opponent CM Clarence Psaila (2002) choose to respond to e4. Corlette went for the isolani d4 pawn position. However, he never gained control of the crucial d5 square and at no time was able to use the positional dynamics of the isolani pawn.
Both men and women’s team have accumulated seven points from 28 games. The women’s team, however, are higher on their standings at position 116 from 151 teams while the men are at 160 from 185 teams with four more rounds to go.
