By Michelangelo Jacobus
The twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago asserted their dominance over hosts Guyana (Team 1) in the final showdown yesterday at the Princess Ramada Hotel, Providence, winning the 9th round clash 3.5-0.5 to claim the inaugural CARICOM Classic Chess Championship.
The win also meant that the Trinidadians went undefeated throughout the tournament, while Guyana Team 1, which consisted of senior players, had two draws and the lone 9th round defeat across their nine matches.
The Trinidadians ended up with 18 match points, while Guyana had 14 and Barbados also had 14, with Guyana holding the edge by virtue of tie-break points (24.5 to Barbados’s 23).
Guyana’s Candidate Master (CM) Taffin Khan was the only Guyanese to go unbeaten, securing a tie with Trinidadian Joshua Johnson, while FIDE Master (FM) Anthony Drayton lost his game against Quinn Cabralis. Jessica Callender and Shazida Rahim both lost their games against Ysvett Hermoso and Zara La Fleur as Guyana surrendered the match.
Khan was one of two players who managed to go undefeated in the tournament, scoring 8,5 points out of a possible 9 (8 wins and one draw), while La Fleur of Trinidad & Tobago also scored 8.5 points out of a possible 9.
Team 2 of the host nation, the junior team consisting of 13-year-old Aditi Joshi, Keron Sandiford, Kyle Couchman, and Sasha Shariff, endured a torrid run in the earlier rounds of the competition but fought back with victories in the eighth and ninth rounds.
They beat the Cayman Islands 2.5-1.5 in the eighth round on Friday evening, with wins for Shariff and Joshi, while Couchman secured a tie and Sandiford ceded a loss.
In the ninth round yesterday, they beat Dominica 3-1, with Joshi and Shariff again successful, while Sandiford and Couchman tied their respective games.
Guyana Team 2 finished 9th out of 10, while T&T were the overall winners and Guyana Team 1 finished second. Barbados rallied to finish third, ending the tournament with a 3.5-00.5 dismissal of St. Lucia.
At the closing ceremony, Director of Sports Steve Ninvalle congratulated Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) President Anand Raghunauth and his team for the successful hosting of the groundbreaking CARICOM Classic in celebration of CARICOM’s 50th anniversary.
He hailed the GCF executive for improving while committing support from the National Sports Commission (NSC) and government, expounding, “I must recognise the GCF, who have been improving by leaps and bounds; to see them organise this event in such a way tells me that this will become our chess Olympic in a few years. Rest assured that the National Sports Commission and, by extension, the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sport, having played a major part in this tournament, will be holding hands with you again when you have to organise such an event again.”
Prizes were presented by Davion Leslie, Programme Manager of the CARICOM Secretariat with responsibility for Sports Development.
