VODAFONE FIJI GEARS UP NATIONAL CHESS REPS

2023 Vodafone Fiji National Chess Championship

Vodafone Fiji has geared up National Champion Candidate Master (CM) Taione Sikivou and 16-year-old Women's National Champion Tanvi Prasad of Jai Narayan College as they finalize their travel plans to Melbourne, Australia this week to participate in the 2023 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship.

"We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Vodafone Fiji for their kind support towards our National reps," states General Secretary Goru Arvind. "Our players in the Oceania Zonal Chess Championship have Vodafone Fiji Polo T-Shirts and Jackets to inspire them further and play well next week."

The 2023 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship features 253 Open players and 43 Women from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Nauru and Guam and brings together the best players from the region including Grand-Masters (GMs), International Masters (IMs), FIDE Masters (FMs) and Candidate Masters (CMs) with many new international debutantes like 20-year-old Yash Maharaj from The University of the South Pacific and Australia-based Fiji rep, Ryan Lyons.

"Ryan Lyons will be an interesting add to Fiji's list of upcoming young players," adds Goru Arvind. "He is more of a very patient, closed-format player who is suitable for the longer 90 minutes plus 30 second increment mode of chess that will be played in the Oceania Zonal. This is his first official outing under Fiji Chess Federation after successfully mentoring the Women's National Team as a Captain in the 44th World Chess Olympiad at Chennai, India in 2022."

Fiji's strongest female player from Olympiads, Women's FIDE Master (WFM) Kieran Lyons will also accompany her younger brother Ryan to compete in the 2023 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship.

Fiji Chess Federation is also preparing for the next Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday, 11 March 2023 where a new Executive Board will be elected to take the sport to a new level before the 45th World Chess Olympiad at Budapest, Hungary in 2024.