Allicock and Joshi win I-CEE Grand Prix 2 chess tournaments

The winners with their respective prizes

Newcomer to the chess scene, FIDE Master (FM) Rawle Allicock, played unbeaten in the eight-round classical I-CEE–sponsored competition, which concluded last Sunday at the School of the Nations. The 55-year-old, Guyanese by birth, recently returned home and has joined the local chess arena. Allicock finished with an impressive 7.5 points in the Open Category, dropping only half a point in his draw with fellow FIDE Master Anthony Drayton.

Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Aditi Joshi, the National Women’s Chess Champion, was also unbeaten in her division. She secured 7.5 points, with her only draw coming against rising talent Kataleya Sam.

In the Open Category, second-place finisher FM Drayton drew his key match against Candidate Master (CM) Sachin Pitamber. Keron Sandiford placed third with six points, recording losses to FM Drayton in Round Five and to Allicock in the penultimate round. Sandiford resigned after 45 moves in his game against Allicock, with the latter’s rooks posing a decisive mating threat.

CM Sachin Pitamber finished fourth with 5.5 points after a surprising loss to Prince Dunn in Round Two. In the final round, Pitamber faced the in-form Allicock. Both players showed aggressive intent in what became a clear clash of generations. Despite severe time pressure, Pitamber fought to maintain his king’s fragile position. However, on move 53 he resigned, with Allicock’s extra pawn poised to promote and deliver checkmate. Pitamber’s only half-point came from his draw with Drayton in Round Six.

Kyle Couchman, who finished on 5 points, also fell to Allicock and Drayton in Rounds Six and Eight, respectively. He suffered a heavy defeat against Joshua Gopaul in Round Two and later resigned in an endgame against Drayton in the final round after more than 60 moves.

Rounding out the top ten in the Open Category were Gilbert Williams, Prince Dunn, Alexander Zhang, Micaiah Enoe and Alex Ubaldo-Singh, each finishing with 5 points.

In the Women’s Category, WCM Joshi secured a full-point victory over former Women’s Champion WCM Jessica Callender in Round Six. Callender’s king was lured deep into enemy territory and left without defence against checkmate after 40 moves. Earlier, in Round Three, Joshi defeated WCM Sasha Shariff, who resigned after losing a rook.

Ciel Clement finished a strong second with 6.5 points, her only loss coming against Joshi in Round Four. She also drew with Shariff. Shariff took third place with 5.5 points, her sole loss also against Joshi.

National U-12 Girls Champion Kataleya Sam delivered a commendable performance, finishing with 5 points. Her only loss was to Clement. She drew with Joshi, Shariff, Callender and Italy Ton-Chung. Callender also ended on 5 points, while Ton-Chung followed with 4.5. Saura Ruplall, Parnita Kishun, Sana Sreebalakumar, Olivia Rajmangal and Maliha Rajkumar each finished with 4 points.

The tournament was overseen by FIDE Arbiter John Lee, who also live-streamed the top twelve boards for online viewers. Results were published on chess-results.com.

Cash prizes totaling $100,000, sponsored by I-CEE, were awarded to the top three players in each category.

The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) expressed gratitude to I-CEE for its continued support of chess in Guyana and to the School of the Nations for providing the venue.

Interested persons can follow the GCF on Facebook and Instagram. Information on chess clubs and federation membership is available at guyanachess.gy.