CM Taffin Khan unbeaten after three rounds – as seniors pick up 2nd win
THE country’s senior chess team competing on Tuesday in the third round of the inaugural CARICOM Classic Chess Tournament edged St Lucia 3-1 at the Ramada Princess Hotel.

It was a tactical master class from Candidate Master Taffin Khan to push the local over the top with his win, khan, Guyana’s National Champion showing his form to overwhelm Arvin Nicholas.
The locals were in a strong position after FIDE Master Anthony Drayton disposed of Justin James.

Shazeeda Rahim had earlier made light of Chelsea Wahid; their only loss to St Lucia was at the hands of Tris-Ann Richards who beat Jessica Callender.
However, the juniors went down to Jamaica 3-1 with Keron Sandiford and Aditi Joshi settling for draws while Kyle Coachman and Sasha Shariff suffered outright losses.

Guyana’s junior and senior team served of their competition on Monday.
In the opening round, the senior team and junior side played each other; it was a clean sweep for the older heads 4-0.
CM Khan, FM Drayton, Callender and Rahim beat off the challenge from their juniors Sandiford, Coachman, Shariff and Joshi.

In round two against Trinidad and Tobago, the junior’s lost 3-1.
Sandiford playing with the black pieces drew his contest with Joshua Johnson with white pieces; Couchman also had drawn against Quinn Cabralis.

Sasha Shariff and Aditi Joshi then lost to Ysvett Hermoso and Zara Lafleur.
The seniors also played Jamaica in round two and drew the match 2-2.
National Champion Khan started well with an outright win against Nathan Hinds before Drayton drew with Justice McDonald and Rahim drew with Krishna Gray.

The local’s only loss against the Jamaican came when Jessica Callendar went down to Adani Clarke.
The competition sees teams battling over nine rounds, winning side pocket USD $1,500 dollars with $1,000 for second place and $500 for third.

The tournament is sponsored by the CARICOM secretariat, ExxonMobil, E-net Guyana and Texila American University, Republic Bank Guyana Limited and DDL’s Topco.

The competition is organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Caribbean Chess Association and world body FIDE and the CARICOM secretariat.
The tournament concludes on Saturday.