Khan emerges winner
DESPITE suffering a surprise defeat at the hands of one of his junior counterparts, reigning national senior champion Taffin Khan quickly recovered to take the top podium spot in the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF)-organised Demerara Distillers Limited TOPCO Independence Anniversary tournament last Sunday.
Khan took the first place after defeating top senior Pierre Boucher and junior player Anthony Drayton at the end of the final two rounds of the seven-round tournament, in which he amassed six points from his seven matches. Boucher took second place with five points even though he suffered a surprise defeat to one of his junior counterparts earlier in the tournament, before he lost to the senior national champion in a tense endgame that lasted for almost four hours and involved the manoeuvres of rooks and pawns.
Veteran player David Khan scored the same number of points as Boucher, but was relegated to third place after losing his head-to-head clash with the second-placed finisher.
Drayton who attends the Government Technical Institute (GTI), won the junior category with four and a half points, a slight advantage over five juniors who accumulated four points each in the keenly contested competition.
Rashad Hussain of Mae’s School with four points was adjudged second in the tie-breaker, Saeed Ali of Richard Ishmael Secondary came third, Sue Hai Feng of North Georgetown Secondary was fourth and Cecil Cox of Queen’s College occupied the fifth spot in a tight and highly competitive junior category.
Ryan McKay also ended on four points, Davion Mars and Shane Youssuf scored three points each while Harresvara Persaud ended on two.
DDL/TOPCO Brand Executive, Alexis Langhorne, was on hand to present the cash prizes and trophies to the winners, with Boucher showing a fine gesture of sportsmanship, when he donated his cash winnings to the GCF, to which the GCF’s president Shiv Nandalall expressed his gratitude.