Nineteen-year-old Keron Sandiford ended 2022 on a high securing the top prize in the Under 20 End-of-Year Rapid Chess Championship.
The nine-round, Swiss system tournament, which was sponsored by the Guyana Chess Federation, took place at the School of the Nations, Main Street.
Sandiford ended the U20 Rapid Championships on 8.5 points after nine rounds. His only draw resulted from his clash with Oluwadare Oyeyipo.
Sandiford has long excelled in the fast-paced format of the game; finishing as the top Guyanese player at the FIDE Online Rapid World Cup in 2020.
In second place was reigning national junior champion Ricardo Narine who ended the tournament with seven points?
Narine lost to U14 and U16 Rapid
Chess Champion Kyle Couchman and eventual winner Sandiford.
Ethan Lee finished third place with seven points, just a half point ahead of Couchman.
The best female prize went to current national women’s
Champion, 14-year-old Pooja Lam, who finished fifth from 24 participants.
She ended the tournament with five points only losing to Kishan Puran, Narine, Lee and Sandiford.
Also on five points were Emmanuel Primus, Nicholas Zhang, 2022 U12 Champion Alexander Zhang, Puran, Rolex Alexander, Italy Ton-Chung and Micaiah Enoe.
Winners received cash prizes of $30,000, $20,000, $10,000 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively while the best female player received $10,000. FM Anthony Drayton was the tournament organizer and chief arbiter.
Drayton recently took up the post of head of the Youth Committee within the federation.
