Learie Webster handed Wendell Meusa only his third defeat in competitive chess locally but it was national junior champion Taffin Khan and Ronuel Greenidge who are the early leaders after three completed rounds of the seniors National Qualification Chess tournament.
The competition which got underway at the Kei-Shars Sports Club, Hadfield Street over the weekend saw Khan and Greenidge tied on the maximum three points after three completed rounds.
In the biggest upset of the tournament so far Webster defeated Meusa who paid the price for overlooking a discovered attack on his queen becoming only the third player after Errol Tiwari and Shiv Nandalall to defeat Meusa.
In another upset Chino Chung defeated Shiv nandalall while Loris Nathoo got past Tiwari in a tough battle.
The points standing after three rounds see Khan and Greenidge in the lead with three points followed by Nathoo on two-and-a-half.
Webster, Chung, Omar Shariff, Meusa, Michael Pereira, Tiwari, David Khan, Ronald Roberts and Irshad Mohamed are all bracketed on two points while Brian Thompson is on one-and-a-half while eight other players are tied on one point apiece.
The junior category has attracted some 30 players and taking the early is Saeed Ali who is undefeated after four rounds. He is closely followed by Rashad Hussain, Raan Motilall and Sham Khan who are all on three-and-a-half points. Kana Khan, Aslam Hussain, Stanley Ming, Jan Carrington and Crystal Khan are on three points while Cecil Cox is on two-and-a-half points.
Nine players are tied on two points apiece.
The senior category attracted 23 players.
The tournament continues on Friday with the seniors at 5.30pm at the Kei-Shars Sports Club, while the juniors will continue on Sunday at the same venue from 10:30am.