Guyana's Open Chess Team eased past Macau, China, 3.5-0.5 in Round 4 of the 46th Chess Olympiad on Saturday. The result lifts the team's tally to 4/8 match points after four rounds in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

National Chess Champion Candidate Master (CM) Sachin Pitamber held CM Tong Kuan Mak to a draw on Board 1, extending his unbeaten run in the tournament.
National Junior Champion Kyle Couchman claimed his first win of the Olympiad on Board 2, defeating Seak Hin Leong after a difficult run of opponents in the early rounds. Playing White, Couchman controlled the centre from the outset, and a series of rushed minor-piece trades left Black with a weak, backward pawn on d6.

Couchman pressed home the advantage, drawing the Black king forward before creating three connected passed pawns that forced an immediate resignation.
On Board 3, CM Taffin Khan added to the momentum against Joao Car Bartilotti. Both players castled queenside in a quiet middlegame before Khan built a positional edge by centralising his knight. When his opponent attempted an overly aggressive break in the centre, Khan capitalised on the error, winning the exchange and an extra pawn before converting the advantage in the endgame for the full point.

Keron Sandiford completed the sweep on Board 4, using strong opening play with the White pieces to push David Sun into early positional difficulties. Mid-game exchanges led to a rook-and-pawn endgame that appeared level on the surface, but Sandiford's connected kingside passed pawns proved decisive, sealing victory and lifting his individual score to 2/3 early in the tournament.

The Women's Team, meanwhile, lost all four boards in a tough match against higher-seeded Hong Kong.
Round 5 continues on September 20, 2026, at the Silk Road Exhibition Centre in Samarkand, where the Open Team faces Luxembourg and the Women take on Somalia in the 11-round tournament, which concludes on September 27, 2026. (Guyana Chess Federation)