Queen’s College student Rajiv Lee emerged unbeaten to win the First-Place trophy in the DDL TOPCO juices Junior Chess Championship Qualifiers played last weekend at the National Aquatic Centre.
According to a release on Wednesday from the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF), Lee also scored an upset win with his solid play over former Junior Champion Joshua Gopaul. Jaden Taylor of St Stanislaus College was the only player to clinch a draw from Lee.
Ricardo Narine, also of Queen’s College, was declared the Best Under-16 player and Arysh Ragnauth of School of the Nations secured the Best Under-12 position. Chelsea Juma of St. Stanislaus College won Best Female Player from among the eight players on the distaff side.
The tournament garnered an impressive field of 27 seeking a place to qualify for the National Junior Chess Championship in 2020, the release said. The standings at the end of the seven-round competition are: Rajiv Lee 6.5 points, Joshua Gopaul and Jaden Taylor 5.5 points each, Ethan Lee and Omesh Dyal 5 points apiece. Ricardo Narine, Odit Rodrigues, Darwin London and Chelsea Juma are grouped together with 4.5 points each. Luca Dotto, Sasha Shariff, Anasie Fredericks, Oluwadare Oyeyipo and Nellisha Johnson secured 4 points apiece. The remaining 13 young players accumulated a reduced score from their matches.
The GCF says it intends to run off another qualifier tournament to allow another batch of young players to enter the 2020 National Junior Chess Championship. Following the conclusion of the two qualifiers, ten junior chess players will face each other for the title of National Junior Chess Champion.
