Andre Jaganandan wins Sasha Cells 2019 Junior NationalsGhansham Allijohn retains 2nd place ahead of Rajiv Lee

Mar 28, 2019 Sports

Playing in his last year as an official junior Chess player, University of Guyana student Andre Jaganandan captured his first major tournament convincingly. On the final day of the 2019 Junior National Chess tournament, with three rounds to spare Jaganandan and Ghansham Allijohn shared the lead on 3.4 points each from 4 games.
However, on board 1 Marian Academy star Ethan Lee, outplayed Allijohn to give him his first loss of the tournament, while on board 2 Queens College’ Rajiv Lee held Jaganandan to a comfortable draw with the white pieces.
Junior female sensation Chelsea Juma went down to the more experienced defending Junior Chess Champion Joshua Gopaul. Jaden Taylor also swept aside schoolmate Jarell Troyer. Round 6 was a bit more entertaining as Rajiv Lee was able to secure another draw against the solid and positional Allijohn.

Guyana Chess Federation Sasha Cells 2019 Junior National Champion, Andre Jaganandan.

However, Jaganandan secured a convincing lead when he defeated Chelsea Juma with the arbiters’ discretion and player’s agreement on default time. Board 1 saw the tactical and aggressive players Ethan Lee and Jaden Taylor going at each other to finish strongly.
One minor tactical inaccuracy was enough for Taylor to press home for the win. In the last round of the event, there were less chances taken and risky moves. The only loss of this round was Rajiv Lee against Ethan Lee.
Pushing a little too hard for the win in the last round, Rajiv allowed Ethan to gain active counter play which suited his style and was enough for him to win. On the other boards, Juma played to an unfortunate draw with Allijohn in a game she should have won which allowed Jaganandan to secure the title with a quiet draw against Jarell Troyer.
This aided Juma to finish 6th which is another great achievement for her in 2019. Defending champion Joshua Gopaul dropped out of the last 2-3 rounds due to some medical complications.
After seven rounds the final standings are:
Andre Jagandan – 5.5; Ghansham Allijohn – 4.5; Rajiv Lee – 4.5; Ethan Lee – 4; Jaden Taylor – 4; Chelsea Juma – 2; Joshua Gopaul – 2; Jarell Troyer – 1.5.
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) is extending gratitude to Sasha Cells and the Director of Sports, Christopher Jones for sponsoring the tournament. Meanwhile, next up for the GCF would be its National Open Qualifiers set for April 7, 13 and 14 at eh National Resource Center, Woolford Avenue.

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