Shiv Nandalall played flawless chess to remain unbeaten at the end of the first two days of the Keishar’s sponsored Easter Chess Tournament.
Nandalall, paired with national champion Kriskal Persaud in the first round proved that he was a force to reckon with when he defeated Persaud in a tense battle.
In another upset, David Khan defeated the young and talented Ronuel Greenidge while Loris Nathoo, Dr. Chatterpaul Ram, Ivan Duncan and Errol Tiwari also won their first round matches.
In the second round,the experienced players prevailed while in round three, Nandalall defeated chess columnist Errol Tiwari while Khan got the better of Nathoo.
At the end of the first day’s session Nandalall and Khan led the points standings with three points while Tiwari, Duncan, Nathoo, Webster, Persaud and Greenidge were on two points. Dr. Ram, Barrow, Dr. Patrick, Dillon and H. Persaud were on one point.
The tournament continued on Good Friday with the two top players facing each other and Nandalall prevailed over Khan in a fiercely contested affair.
In other matches, Persaud got past Tiwari while defending champion Learie Webster lost to Nathoo.
Other winners were Duncan, H. Persaud and Mohamed.
In the final round on day two, Khan upset Persaud while Tiwari went down to Nathoo.
At the end of five rounds of the seven-round Swiss system tournament, Nandalall leads with five points with Khan and Nathoo, joint second on four points and Duncan, Persaud, Greenidge and Barrow locked in third place on three points each.
Tiwari, Mohamed, Webster,and H. Persaud are on two points each while Allicock and Rahim are on 1 ½ points and Dillon and Dr. Ram on one point each.
In the junior division Taffin Khan is unbeaten in first position and he is followed by Saeed Ali, Sheriffa Ali, Irshad Ishmael and Malcolm Duncan.
The tournament ends today at 10 am with the final two rounds at the Keishar’s Sports Club on Camp and Hadfield St, Georgetown.
The tournament, which has been organized by the Guyana Chess Federation and is sponsored by Keishar’s, attracted 16 of the country’s top senior players.
