-with three rounds to go
Errol Tiwari and David Khan lead the points standings in the senior category of the national Closed chess championships while Taffin Khan has the junior category already in the bag with three rounds to go.
When play resumes this weekend for the final round at the Ocean Spray International Hotel, it promises to be a ding dong tussle in the senior category.
Tiwari took a share of the lead with wins this past weekend when he defeated Dennis Dillon and Frankie Farley while Khan suffered his second defeat in the competition when he was checkmated by Loris Nathoo.
He, however, rebounded to defeat Omar Shariff who lost on time in the afternoon session.
Defending champion Kriskal Persaud found himself down three pawns against Shariff going into an endgame but once again Sharif lost on time.
Persaud’s other win came against Ronuel Greenidge while Dillon scored the upset of the day in his win over one of the tournament favourites Nathoo.
On Sunday, Shariff took advantage of a blunder by Greenidge to secure his third win while Tiwari scored his second win over Persaud.
In the afternoon session, Dillon Shariff Khan and Farley played to draws.
In other results, Persaud returned to score a win over Nathoo; Greenidge rebounded to defeat Tiwari.
After 11 rounds the points standings in the senior category reads: Tiwari and Khan seven-and-a-half points; Persaud and Greenidge seven points; Nathoo six-and-a-half points, Shariff four points, Dillon two-and-a-half points and Farley two points.
In the junior category, Khan racked up wins against Devendra Singh and Cecil Cox on Saturday and Saeed Ali and Kana Khan on Sunday.
The battle is now on for second place, as Cox and Khalid Gajraj are tied on seven points each.
Points standing for the juniors’ are; Taffin Khan 11 points, Cecil Cox and Khalid Gajraj seven points, Rashad Hussain six points, Saeed Ali five points, Devendra Singh and Sham Khan three points and Kana Khan on two points.
The final three rounds of the tournament continue this weekend with two games on Saturday at the Ocean Spray International Hotel and the final game on Sunday from 2pm at the King’s Plaza Hotel.
