NA Multilateral wins Berbice Inter School Chess Championship

Oct 09, 2017 Sports

New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary School (NAMSS) is the winner of the seventh edition of the Berbice Inter-School Chess Championship which was held recently in Berbice. The championship, which was organised by the Berbice Chess Association (BCA), was held at the Wellington Park Primary School, Corentyne. It was the first time it was played at a Primary School.

Individual Category First Prize winner, Darwin (London) Nurse of Berbice Educational Institute receives his trophy from Head teacher of host school, Wellington Park Primary, Mr. Bourne.

Coming in second was the Vryman’s Erven Secondary School (VESS).
The win by NAMS marks the third time that the New Amsterdam Secondary has won the competition in the team category.
The other two occasions were in 2013 when it was played at Tagore Memorial and in 2014 when they hosted the tournament. The NAMS team was made up of Charran Woarti, Demetre Prittipaul, Yutesh Dyal and Devon Kissoon.
The individual category saw defending champion Darwin (London) Nurse of Berbice Educational Institute retaining his crown. Coming in second was Marley London of the Vryman’s Erven Secondary School with school mate Akeel Douglas taking the third spot.
Primary school student Vishwadev Tarachand of the St. Therese Primary School upstaged his more senior counterparts to cop fourth place.
According to a release from the BCA, this year’s competition is a landmark one for several reasons. It is the first time that the Berbice Inter-School Chess Championship has been held as a calendar event in September. It was earlier decided by the Region Six Administration and the Department of Education that the Berbice Inter-School Chess Championship will be a Calendar Event to be held in the month of September which is education month.
It is also the first time that the Berbice Inter-School Championship was conducted by the Berbice Chess Association in collaboration with the Department of Education. The previous six Championships was organised by Krishnanand Raghunandan in an individual capacity, with assistance from the Department.
Raghunandan, who is a founding member of the BCA which was launched in July this year, is also the current President.
The tournament was coordinated by vice president Steve Leung and he was assisted by Kriskal Persaud (two times former National Chess Champion), Secretary Jayshree Carpen and treasurer Dane Grimmond.
Two representatives of the Department of Education were also present.
Ten schools participated with some 29 students taking part. The competition was conducted using the Swiss System format.
The Association would like to thank the Department of Education Region Six, Matadeen Western Union business entity, Hand-In-Hand Mutual Fire Insurance Company Ltd, Bibi’s Travel Service, Republic Bank Rose Hall branch and Malesha Mackoon of Rose Hall Town for their support.
(Samuel Whyte)