Wins by Taffin Khan and Maria Varona-Thomas could not prevent Guyana’s men’s and women’s teams respectively, suffering sixth round losses by the same score, 2 ½ to 1 ½ points, yesterday at the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Taffin Khan scored his second consecutive win in the tournament to improve his record to two wins, two losses and two draws. Playing the black pieces on board two, he defeated fellow Candidate Master (CM), Robert Zerafa of Malta. Anthony Drayton on board one lost to Joseph Gauci, whilst Ronuel Greenidge fell to Clarence Psaila on board three.
Haifeng Su playing the black pieces on board four held Malta’s CM Duncan Vella to a draw, to earn the ½ point for Guyana. It was the second draw for Su in as many games, allowing him to match Khan’s tournament record of two wins, two losses and two draws.
The women’s team fell to Chinese Taipei, as Maria Varona-Thomas playing the white pieces on board one defeated Hung-Ling Cho to earn Guyana a point. Jessica Clementson and Yolander Persaud, lost to Ching-An Shih and Ingrid Wu, on boards two and three, respectively. Whilst Sheriffa Ali held Linda Jane Wong to a draw on board four, to earn the half point for Guyana.
The men’s team is scheduled to face Bermuda today, whilst the women’s team opposes Sudan.
