Wendell Meusa continued to sail smoothly through the choppy waters of the National Closed Chess Tournament opening up a three point lead over his nearest rival as the second of the double-round championships commenced over the week-end at the Ocean Spray International Hotel.
Playing Ronuel Greenidge, widely considered the only person with a chance of beating him on Sunday, Meusa laid all the speculation to rest with a comfortable win in their eighth round encounter.
After eight rounds, the unbeaten Meusa is in sole possession of the lead with eight points.
The story of the tournament so far has been the below par performance of defending national champion Kriskal Persaud of Berbice and the improved performance of Taffin Khan.
Khan has moved up to joint second place with Greenidge on five points each.
In what could be considered the changing of the guard, the reigning national junior champion handed the current national senior champion his fourth defeat of the tournament on Sunday.
The points standing after eight rounds read: Meusa, eight points, Khan and Greenidge, five points each, Persaud, four points, Omar Shariff three-and-a-half points, Learie Webster, three points, Brian Thompson, two-and-a-half points and Chino Chung on one point.
In other results, Shariff defeated Webster, Thompson got the better of Chung, Persaud lost to Greenidge, Webster defeated Chung; Meusa defeated Thompson, Khan defeated Shariff, Thompson upset Webster, Persaud defeated Chung and Shariff and Greenidge played to a draw.
The race for the junior title is still open after Cecil Cox handed Saeed Ali his first defeat of the tournament.
Both players are now tied on six points each closely followed by Sham Khan on five points.
The points standing after eight rounds: Cox and Ali, six points apiece, Khan five points, Crystal Khan and Rashad Hussain, four points apiece, Kana Khan and Raan Motilall, two-and-a-half points and Stanley Ming Jr. on one point.
The tournament continues this Saturday at the Ocean Spray Hotel for the seniors while the juniors will meet at the Olympic House on High Street, Kingston.
The junior category is sponsored exclusively by the Ramgopal family, while the senior category is sponsored by Neal and Massy Group of Companies, Trophy Stall of Bourda Market and Demerara Distillers Limited.