[Source: Fiji Chess Federation/ Facebook]

The Fiji Chess team to the 2023 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship ended with a decent outing in Melbourne, Australia.

Women’s FIDE Master Kieran Lyons, Candidate Master Taione Sikivou, Provisional Women’s Candidate Master Tanvi Prasad, Yash Maharaj of The University of the South Pacific and Ryan Lyons were part of the team.

Kieran Lyons finished among the Top 15 women in a field of 43 players from Australia, New Zealand, Guam and Fiji.

[Source: Fiji Chess Federation/ Facebook]

She defeated Sophie Davis from Australia, Charlotte Ray from New Zealand, Elizaveta Gratchev Katherine Pan to tally 5/9.

Fiji Chess Secretary Goru Arvind says the Oceania Zonal is an event where players have a chance to compete against the best players from the South Pacific or World Chess Federation Zone 3.6.

National Chess Champion Taione Sikivou also registered wins over Australian players Jonathan Macmillan, Ilic Goran, Angela Feng, Daniel Wang and Nathan Kong to score 5/9.

[Source: Fiji Chess Federation/ Facebook]

Other points registered by Fiji’s National reps are debutante Ryan Lyons holding off Australians Matthew Arthur and John Luke Corona to a draw, and winning against Eric Maure of Australia.

Goru says chess players in Fiji rarely had any face-to-face international exposure in the past four years barring the 44th World Chess Olympiad in Chennai from 2022.

He adds the Zonal is another small step towards preparing for the 45th World Chess Olympiad at Hungary in 2024.
20-year-old international debutante Yash Maharaj also added to Fiji’s scoreboard by winning against Harnam Singh of Australia and holding off Australians Matt Radisich, Zaher Sibar Al, James Picone and Yulin Daniel Ding to four solid draws.