TAFFIN Khan and former national champion Kriskal Persaud will face each other in a playoff tie to determine this year’s Guyana Chess Federation (GCF)-organised Neal and Massy/Seven Seas-sponsored national chess champion tomorrow at the Keishar’s Sports Club from 17:00 h. Both players are tied on points after the completion of the double round-robin format of the tournament on 11½ points.
When play resumed last weekend at the Ocean Spray Hotel, Persaud held a half-point lead over Khan who is a former junior champion but Learie Webster held Persaud to a draw in round 12, while Khan defeated Frankie Farley to level the scores at 9-1/2 points each.
In round 13, Khan defeated Ryan Singh while Persaud gained a walkover from Errol Tiwari, who withdrew from the tournament due to personal reasons.
In the final round Singh gained an advantage over Persaud as he forced him to accumulate two sets of double pawns and with a bishop versus five pawns and a knight. However, Singh made a huge blunder when he gave his knight away for free thus allowing Persaud to regain control of the game and seal the win.
Khan also secured a win in the final round against his father David who finished on equal points with Persaud, David Khan was second on 9½, followed by Webster 8½, Farley 5½, Singh 5, Ron Motilall 2½ and Tiwari 2.
The format of the playoff will comprise three rapid games of 20, 15 and ten minutes each and two blitz games of five and three minutes each.