Guyana’s top-ranked chess players will be joined by a strong group of junior champions as the country launches a wide-ranging challenge at the 2026 CARIFTA Hybrid Chess Championship this weekend.
More than 30 Guyanese players, ranging from seven to 35 years old, will compete across eight divisions at Olympic House, Liliendaal, on July 11 and 12. The nine-round Swiss-format tournament will be played through the Tornelo platform under FIDE online chess regulations.
Candidate Master Taffin Khan, FIDE Master Anthony Drayton and Keron Sandiford will lead Guyana’s bid in the Open section.
National champion Candidate Master Sachin Pitamber will compete in the Under-16 Open division, while national junior champion Kyle Couchman will represent the country in the Under-18 Open competition.
Guyana will also have experienced representation in the women’s divisions. Woman Candidate Masters Sasha Shariff and Jessica Callender will compete in the senior Women’s section, while national women’s champion WCM Aditi Joshi will contest the Under-16 Women’s category.
Ciel Clement has been selected for the Under-18 Women’s competition, while national Under-14 and Under-16 girls’ champion Kataleya Sam will compete in the Under-14 Women’s section.
National Under-14 Open champion Abel Fernandez Ciria will seek regional honours in his age group. Under-12 champions Aiden Tinnie and Divya Persaud will compete in the Under-12 Open and Under-12 Women’s categories, respectively.
The team also includes Parnita Kishun and Emma John in the Under-16 Women’s section, along with Alexander Zhang and Nicholas Zhang in the Under-16 Open division.
Rebha Lachhman and Sana Sreebalakumar will play in the Under-14 Women’s competition, while Alek Ubaldo-Singh and Aquilani Swaminadha will contest the Under-14 Open.
Amaya Sharma and Saura Ruplall have been selected for the Under-12 Women’s section, with Vir Narine and Arian Tinnie competing in the Under-12 Open.
Malia Thompson and Isabella Shariff will represent Guyana in the Under-10 Women’s competition, while Mark De Freitas and Avery Munroe will compete in the Under-10 Open. Pranav Suman will be Guyana’s representative in the Under-8 Open section.
The age-group divisions, from Under-8 to Under-18, will complete all nine rounds on Saturday, July 11. The Open and Women’s competitions will be played on Sunday, July 12.
Play will begin at 10:30h and conclude at 17:15h on both days.
Each player will receive 15 minutes, with a 10-second increment added after every move. The championship will be FIDE Rapid-rated, while pairings will be managed through Swiss-Manager or Tornelo using the JaVaFo system.
FIDE Arbiter and Guyana Delegate John Lee will monitor the local team throughout the competition. Final standings will be published after officials review all games.
Guyana will compete against players from across the Caribbean and the wider CARIFTA region, including Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Suriname, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, St Lucia and the Cayman Islands.
The Guyana Chess Federation praised the Confederation of Chess for the Americas and the Hybrid Circuit of the Americas for providing players across the region with an opportunity to compete.
The federation also expressed hope that the CARIFTA championship will eventually return to its traditional face-to-face format.
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