Loris Nathoo emerged as the champion of the 2008 Independence Chess Tournament sponsored by Demerara Distillers Ltd under the Topco brand, which concluded Monday at Keishar’s Sports Club.
Nathoo got past many fearsome opponents during his title run, including national champion Kriskal Persaud and president of the Guyana Chess Federation Errol Tiwari.
Veteran player David Khan was the only player who was able to humble Nathoo in his lone loss of the tournament, while Shiv Nandalall managed to force a draw against him.
In one of the most entertaining matches of the final day, Michael Perreira took out four of Persaud’s pawns early, forcing the national champion to offer him a draw.
The final points standing saw Nathoo ahead of the field with six and a half points while Tiwari and David Khan followed close behind with six points a piece and Persaud with five and a half points.
Perreira, Nandalall and Learie Webster all managed five points, while Irshad Mohamed, Frank Farley and Dennis Dillon ended with three and a half points each. Haatram Persaud finished with three points, Michael Webster with two points and a half and Alex Joseph with one point.