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GCF National Junior Chess Qualifiers…
Roberto Neto captures qualification honours as final hurdle looms
In what could be considered a raging battle for honours, 
Roberto Neto turned in his local best performance to date, amassing 6.5 points from 7 games to win the National Junior Chess Qualifiers when that tournament concluded with two days of intense rivalry at the National Resource Centre, Woolford Avenue, over the past weekend. However, the battle is only halfway won as Neto will join several other players within two weeks for a round robin showdown to determine who will be the 2016 National Junior Champion; the current champion, Haifeng Su has outgrown the tournament and is currently engaged in academic studies in Canada.
Saeed Anwar Ali chalked up 5 ½ points to take the second place, while tournament favourite, Woman Candidate Master (WCM), Sheriffa Ali, closed off the podium spots with 5 points.
Neto travelled as the reserve player on the national team that attended the recently concluded 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan and was always a threat to tournament favourite, WCM Sheriffa Ali, who had recently earned her new accreditation after a sterling performance at the Baku, Azerbaijan tournament.
Meanwhile, Joshua Gopaul scored 5 points to finish 4th while Ghansham Allijohn and Jaden Taylor both amassed 4 points to occupy the 5th and 6thplace positions respectively with Allijohn benefitting from the tie breaker. The latter two are budding players of the Saints Chess Club of the St Stanislaus College.
Some of the qualified players might not have been in the top bunch but would have recorded satisfactory personal performances. Former Queen’s College student, Aravinda Singh, was one such player and he finished with a fighting 4 points following a return after a self-imposed hiatus, while Nellisha Johnson of Christ Church Secondary closed off the qualifying group after fighting ferociously in the final game to claim her spot against her equally game sibling, Waveney Johnson; both amassed 4 points and the winner had to be decided on the tie breaker.
Meanwhile, President of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF), Irshad Mohamed, was the Tournament Director and complimented the players for the exceptionally high quality of play. He feels that this is indicative of the many tournaments planned in the run up to the tournament along with the international exposure of the Baku, Azerbaijan tournament.
He also extended sincere thanks to Director of Sports, Christopher Jones for his input towards a successful tournament as well as the officials of the National Sports Commission for allowing the usage of the National Resource Center and the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
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