Khan, Drayton dominate Trophy Stall chess tourney

Reigning National Senior Chess Champion Taffin Khan dominated the senior category while his junior counterpart Anthony Drayton led the younger players in the annual Trophy Stall Tournament held at the Carifesta Sports Complex over the weekend.

With four rounds already contested and three more to go, the tournament saw several upsets with Canada-based Raymond Singh, former National Senior Champion in the late 1980s losing two of his chess games to junior players, a press release from the chess Federation said. Singh lost Round One to Drayton and Round Three to former Junior Champion Haifeng Su.  Singh is now an active player on the Canadian chess circuit and holds a Canadian Chess Federation rating of 2002. Drayton has a Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) rating of 1805 while Su’s FIDE rating is 1738.

The points standing for the senior players after the fourth round reads Taffin Khan, 4, Alexander Duncan, Maria Thomas and Errol Tiwari 3 apiece. Cleveland Hutson scored 2.5 while Glenford Corlette and Raymond Singh are on 2.

Drayton and Su are leading the junior category with 3 points each. Roberto Neto is second with 2.5 while Othniel Lewis, Rajiv Muneshwer, Joshua Pedro, Ron Motilall and Carlos Petterson are all bundled on two points each.  The tournament resumes tomorrow at 5.30pm at the same venue.

The players will be paired in the fifth round as the competition winds down on Sunday with the sixth and seventh rounds.