Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Aditi Joshi moved to the top of the standings on tiebreak after winning both of her matches on the opening day of the 2026 National Junior Chess Championship at Olympic House, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
Joshi defeated Matthew Singh in Monday morning’s first round before getting past Jeremy Cole in the afternoon to finish the day on two points.
Candidate Master (CM) Sachin Pitamber and defending champion Kyle Couchman also recorded two victories and are level with Joshi.

Pitamber, who has the tournament’s highest rating of 1974, defeated Javier Davenand in the opening session and Nicholas Zhang in round two.
Couchman also made a strong start to his title defence. The 1906-rated player defeated Aiden Tinnie before scoring his second win against Davenand.
Alexander Zhang sits just behind the three leaders with 1.5 points. He drew with his brother, Nicholas Zhang in the morning before defeating Sam in the second round.
Singh is fifth with one point after responding to his defeat against Joshi by beating Tinnie. Nicholas Zhang, Sam, and Cole each have half a point.
Nicholas Zhang earned his half point from his opening draw with his brother, while Sam and Cole drew against each other. Davenand and Tinnie remain without a point after losing both of their matches.

Competition will continue with two more rounds today. Couchman will play Singh in the morning, while Joshi faces Alexander Zhang and Pitamber meets Sam. Nicholas Zhang will take on Davenand, with Tinnie opposing Cole.
The afternoon session will be highlighted by the meeting between Pitamber and Joshi. Couchman will play Nicholas Zhang, Alexander Zhang will face Tinnie, Cole will oppose Singh and Davenand will meet Sam.
Two rounds will also be played on Wednesday and Friday before the ninth and final round on Saturday.
The round-robin championship is expected to remain close, with the three early leaders still to play each other. Joshi will meet Couchman in round eight, while Couchman and Pitamber are scheduled to clash in the final round.

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Dear Editor,
Transparency and accountability are required by elected officials to justify their existence in the public space. Their stewardship is scrutinised by the subjects over whom they govern, we require no less. That critical and detailed examination of their actions is required at all times, if they fall beneath the bar then consequences should follow. This goes for both Government as well as opposition, because, when you assume the position of Government, public transparency and accountability become mandatory watchwords.
Recently, there has been a flurry of information as it pertains to the President’s acquisition of a farm on the highway, this allegation has been done by the opposition leader Us-sanctioned and indicted Azruddin Mohammed himself. He comes on the scene as an overly concerned opposition leader, who has suddenly landed on a smoking gun story. He peddles his story with all the sensationalism that a politician of his ilk can muster, but is this the true picture of what is painted in the media? I think not, because, a true assessment of the political climate of this fugitive offender, turn concerned opposition leader, shows a man who is trying desperately to save himself from extradition to the United States to face corruption charges. So, as the noose tightens around his neck, he is trying every which way to stir up trouble for the Ali-led Government, while hoping somehow that his personal troubles will go away.
But what I can tell Mohamed, is that this is no new phenomenon when it comes to the opposition’s stance against the PPP/C, the corrupt blame represents a prime strategy employed by the PNC during the Jagdeo Presidency; it was one of the PNC’s main deceptions in their arsenal of tricks. They hounded Jagdeo both locally and internationally, Pradoville readily comes to mind as their accusations reached melting point. So, this latest attack on Ali comes as no surprise. The point is, the opposition is going to use every clever subterfuge to distract from the real issue here, that is, his imminent extradition.
There is an integrity commission to which all public officials must declare their assets, and all allegations of corruption should be directed to that statutory body. The Integrity Commission has the powers to investigate, if there be any evidence of misconduct in public office. Dr Ali in a show of transparency and accountability, has made his declarations to the integrity commission and that is all that matters. Then it behooves us to ask the question is Azruddin Mohammed of the mistaken belief that he is exempt from the said commission? Is he exempt from declaring his assets, while making accusations of the President? I think not.
Are we witnessing another episode of the Biblical character Eli and his sons? Eli’s eyes could have been wide open to see the so-called inebriated lips of the praying sister; however, those eyes were conveniently blind towards the evil deeds of his sons. Is US-indicted Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed a reenactment of that Biblical father and son story?
Azruddin Mohamed is pretending to have morals, and virtues which he does not actually possess, because he points the accusing finger when he himself is the epitome of corruption. I leave the readers to judge.

Respectfully,
Neil Adams

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…to create jobs, business opportunities across Region 6 – Bharrat

Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat has announced that a Dominican Republic (DR) consortium is expected to begin exploration activities within the Berbice Block in six months. In May 2026, the Guyana Government had signed an agreement with DR to jointly explore and potentially develop oil and natural gas resources in the onshore Berbice Block. Under the deal, the Dominican Petroleum Refinery will represent the Dominican State and receive a 10 per cent stake in the project without requiring an upfront capital investment. If commercially viable reserves are discovered, the Dominican Republic would gain access to crude oil or natural gas under preferential terms, strengthening the country’s long-term energy security. The initiative stems from a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2023 by President Luis Abinader and President Mohamed Irfaan Ali. The project has involved technical coordination between the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Refidomsa, and Guyanese authorities. Providing an update on the initiative during the Starting Point podcast on Sunday, Minister Bharrat said, “we’ve given them a very short timeframe to start these activities. Within four-six months, we must see some kind of activities within the Berbice Block.” Minister Bharrat added that the agreement signed between Guyana and DR is for three years, “where they will obviously do their surveys and they will start drilling at some point in time soon”.
Previously held by CGX Energy (under ON Energy), the Berbice Block along with the Demerara Block were surrendered so the company could focus on the offshore Corentyne Block. Minister Bharrat noted that, “CGX would have done some drilling in the Berbice Block in the past”. According to CGX Energy’s website, “there is strong evidence that oil has migrated onto the onshore Guyana Berbice Block and has been trapped…There has been pay on logs and oil shows in cuttings from Berbice wells drilled by ON Energy Inc. Large structures and stratigraphic changes on Berbice provide hydrocarbon traps. There is strong evidence that these traps are well positioned to be filled with hydrocarbons that have migrated to onshore Guyana.”
The website outlined that the company previously drilled three wells on the block and acquired 17 2D seismic lines along with an aeromagnetic and gravity survey. To augment these data, it was noted that CGX conducted a Geochemical Soil Survey in late 2018. “A surface soil gas survey was conducted by Exploration Technologies Inc. (ETI) in collaboration with the University of Guyana (UG) Berbice Campus and several of the Berbice technical institutes. A total of 314 shallow soil gas vapours were collected between 27 October and 4 November of 2018 from a depth of 4 feet subsurface. The data set is wide-spread, with samples collected on 1 kilometre (km) spacing along three roads and two gridded areas. The geochemical survey confirmed the presence of subsurface oil sources within the Berbice block,” the website noted. Meanwhile, the Natural Resources Minister highlighted the economic benefits that will unfold for Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) when activities begin in the Berbice Block by the DR consortium.
“It will generate a lot of opportunities in Region Six, whether it’s for direct employment, indirect employment, provision of goods and services, training, there will be many opportunities, housing, transportation, these are all services that are required when exploration activities are ongoing,” he emphasised.

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