National Under 14 Rapid Chess Tournament set for Saturday

The Guyana Chess Federation is set to host the Under 14 Nationals on Saturday July 16 at Queen’s College.

The National Under 14 Rapid Chess Tournament was last held in February 2020 at Mae’s School. At this time, Marian Academy’s Ronan Lee was victorious among a total of 75 students from 12 schools.

Young players will face off in seven rounds of matches from 9:00hrs to 16:30hrs. The time control for the matches is 15 minutes with added 5 second increments.

Vice President of the Guyana Chess Federation Anand Raghunaught said, “Many of the young boys and girls look forward to the shorter version of chess. It’s a faster game. The younger players like to play quickly. It’s a exciting game, the tournament finishes in one day. It’s a fun tournament even though it’s a serious competition.

The Guyana Chess Federation notes that the competitive calendar for the earlier part of the year was dominated by longer format games and more seasoned competitors. Therefore, these tournaments provide a great opportunity for younger players.

Raghunaught said, “We have some of the young kids who have just completed Grade Six exams, I’m sure they will be looking forward to return to chess. We have many of the seasoned players who have been competing over the past three to four months with the adults, with the older kids and they also will be looking forward to having a go at each other and I’m sure it’s going to be an interesting tournament.”

Interested persons can register through guyanachess.org. Registration for any local chess players aged 14 or under on January 1, 2021 remains open until 17:00hrs on July 15.

Trophies will be awarded to the top three players as well as the best under-10 boy and girl and the best under-8 boy and girl at the end of seven matches.