REIGNING national senior chess champion Wendell Meusa opened his year by capturing a win when the chess season started last Sunday with the Trophy Stall Blitz Tournament at the Carifesta Sports Complex, Carifesta Avenue.

Meusa won the senior category after ending with 6 points, with his only loss in the seven-round tournament being to former national champion Kriskal Persaud. Top honours in the junior category went to Anthony Drayton who had 5.5 points and, also honoured for being the top performing Under-16 player was Queen’s College student Otheneil Lewis.
Persaud followed Meusa in the senior category after ending with 5.5 points, third place went to Hemraj Sanichar with five points, Alexander Duncan was fourth with 4.5 points and Glenford Corlette had 4 points to finish fifth.
Following Drayton in the junior category the next four players all accrued four points each with Omar Britton Grant in second, Ron Motilall in third, Saeed Ali in fourth and Davion Mars in fifth.
Drayton lost against Motilall in the opening round and sustained a draw against Persaud in the final round. He also played Eton Lee, Roberto Nettu and Alexander Duncan.
In his final competition in the junior category, Drayton said that he was pleased with his performance and will be looking forward to working on his skills now that he will have to compete with the likes of Meusa and Taffin Khan.
“I played reasonably well for now, but from now on I am in the senior category so I probably will need to train more to reach the level of Taffin Khan and the other seniors.” Drayton said.
Following the completion of the tournament the players were presented with their prizes by Trophy Stall representative Renuka Chattergoon.

(Tamica Garnett)