2019 National Youth Chess held in Accra

The 2019 National Youth Chess Championships which took place at the DPS International School Auditorium, Tema, over the weekend with over 90 players featuring.

The players competed in seven different age categories; Under-10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and the new Under-8 and girls-only categories.

This year's event saw a new set of winners in all categories, an indication of the competitive nature of the sport and also gave room for improvement in each of these categories.

Joseph Sovereign, a rising prodigy from Achimota Senior High School toppled defending champion Rohan Karamchandani of Ghana International School, with a splendid five points out of five performances to win the U-18 category.

An outstanding performance from Joshan Shunjaiy of host school Delhi Public School (DPS) secured him the top spot for the U-16 category, a position held by his school mate Larry Vandyke, who took the second spot this time.

In the Girls U-12 category, Angel-Jordan Quansah of International Community School secured 3.5 out of 5 points to place first. Talented Enoch Nenyo Kpodzi from Great Stars Montessori also displaced defending champion John Allotey of Basics International to second place in the Under 14 category.

The U-12 boys’ category was won by the adventurous Neequaye Jeffery from BASICS International and was crowned the new ‘King of Chorkor’.

He took the place of Alexis Rusquet of Lycee Francais d’Accra who didn’t participate in this year’s edition.

The unrivalled passion and determination shown by Tianjie Gao of Ghana International School ensured he took home the Under-10 national title previously held by Rohit Godhwani of DPS International.

In the U-8 category, fearless and courageous 6-year-old Dave Quansah Acheampong won with a perfect score. The young lad from Jack and Jill School is the first to hold this title as it’s the first time the under-8 championships is being held.

All the participants showed great enthusiasm for the competition and were focused while playing the matches. The matches clearly brought forth the eagerness with which the youth are building their skills.

The winners of the various categories were awarded with trophies, medals, and special prizes for their efforts.

Award presentations were done by Mrs Tanya Thakwani, First Lady of Delhi Public School International and Mr. David Raj together with Mr. Philip Ameku and Mrs. Christiana Ashley of the Ghana Chess Association (GCA).

The GCA thanked all families whose wards participated, DPS for hosting the event and also to the hairman of B5 Plus Ghana Limited Mr. Mukesh Thakwani who provided special awards to all the medalists.