Thursday, July 24 2008

GUELMO ROSALES set back defending champion (FM) Ryan Harper defeating him in the third round at the eleventh annual National Flour Mills (NFM) Open chess tournament.

The competition is being contested at COSTAATT City Campus, Melville Lane, Port-of-Spain. After four rounds of the seven-round Swiss style tournament Harper is bunched in third spot together with six other players — Marcus Joseph, Alex WinterRoach, David Christopher, Dev Soondarsingh, (FM) Michael Pouchet and national Under-18 champion Esan Wiltshire.

Rosales has progressed significantly over the pass year since returning to competitive chess after just over a two years stint of coaching young players.

A now regular national finalist qualifier, Rosales surprised former 13 times national champion (FM) Christo Cave also defeating him at the national finals last year.

Leading on full points is national player Dr Edison Chang who won two tough matches over the weekend against David Christopher and Marcus Joseph.

Sitting in second place is Rosales who is just half point behind after drawing with Alex WinterRoach on Sunday.

Veterans Cecil Lee and Frank Sears continue to prove their strength and are both on 2.5 points. The tournament, sponsored by National Flour Mills, is organised by Paladins Chess Club. Among the 39 players entered are nine out of the 12 national finalists.

Two of the other finalists Christo Cave and (FM) Frank Yee have visited the tournament. Two of the leading female players Aditi Soondarsingh (2 points) and Melissa Pereira (1.5 points), together with national junior category champions Esan Wiltshire (3 points) , Jayson Paul (2.5 points) Mahendra Singh (1.5 points) and Jarryon Paul (1 point) are also proving to be competitive.

The fifth and sixth rounds continue at the weekend at COSTAATT from 3pm. Round-5 fixtures are:



1 Dr Chang Edison vs Rosales Guelmo

2 Cobham Marcus vs Harper Ryan (FM)

3 Soondarsingh Dev vs Joseph Marcus

4 WinterRoach Alex vs Wiltshire Esan

5 Pouchet Michael(FM) vs Christopher David

6 Raphael Christopher vs Sears Frank

7 Lee Cecil (NM) vs Paul Jayson

8 Singh Vishnu vs Bowles Andrew

9 Gill Joseph vs Soondarsingh Aditi

10 Chong Johnathon vs Lee Hayden

11 Singh Ravishen vs Persad Prakash

12 Ali Ian vs Smith Vandoff

13 Pereira Melissa vs Singh Mahendra

14 LeeMoon Brian vs Guerrero Rafael

15 Johnson Joshua vs Smith Alpacino

16 Ragoo Ravi vs Paul Jarryon

17 Solomon Ian vs Paul Johnathon

18 Smith Zurich vs Johnson Gabrella

19 Walker Luke - bye