CM Taffin Khan wins 2nd GAICO Grand Prix chess tournament

Candidate Master Taffin Khan has again proven his skill over the board by winning the second GAICO-sponsored Grand Prix chess tournament. Khan won seven of his eight matches, with his only draw being against Loris Nathoo, who came in second place.

Renowned in the chess community for his very solid play, Loris Nathoo did not disappoint. He and Taffin Khan played the opening and middle game well, with Khan attempting to force Nathoo to make inaccuracies and mistakes. Nathoo held strong, and the two traded down to a draw. Nathoo won five and drew three of his matches, finishing the tournament on 6.5 points to win the second-place trophy.

In third place was FIDE Master Anthony Drayton with 5.5 points, having lost to Taffin Khan and drawn his game with Loris Nathoo. During the second round of the tournament, Drayton was defeated by veteran player Errol Tiwari, the Stabroek News columnist. The opening was played with minor inaccuracies from Tiwari, giving Drayton a considerable positional edge. Disaster struck when Drayton blundered his queen to Tiwari, turning the tide completely in Tiwari’s favour. Drayton resigned the game immediately afterwards. Tiwari was later defeated by Roberto Neto.
Frankie Farley played against Loris Nathoo in round 6. The two solid players began their openings with little to no errors, but with little to no extravagance at the same time. The position eventually became closed, a wall of pawns blocking any real intrusion into the position.

However, a seemingly innocent trade of pieces was offered by Nathoo, and Farley accepted. As a result, the position erupted with life, as Nathoo’s pieces stormed across half the board, while Farley’s were left on the farther end, away from the action.
The innocent trade was devastating for Farley, as 10 moves later led to a forced checkmate by Nathoo, who claimed victory 3 moves later.
A clash between the older, more experienced player Justino DaSilva and rising star 14-year-old Pooja Lam in round 5 indicated that the odds were in DaSilva’s favour. The opening was sharp, as DaSilva gambited a pawn for a devasting attack, but Lam’s defence appeared to be sharper. DaSilva quickly lost steam in his attack, and now entered into a poor middle game. In an attempt to draw, DaSilva closed the position defensively, but after reorganising her forces, Lam broke through and began claiming the advantage gifted to her by her opponent. The game ended as swiftly as it started, as Lam’s advantage snowballed, inducing a resignation from DaSilva, marking a glorious day in her promising chess career as a female junior chess player.
Women’s Champion Sasha Shariff (5 points) took away the trophy for ‘best female player in the tournament’. The trophy for ‘best junior female’ went to Pooja Lam (4.5 points). Jessica Callender (5 points) received the trophy for ‘the best U20 player in the Grand Prix’.
Medals for 4th to 10th places were also awarded to Roberto Neto, Errol Tiwari, Sasha Shariff, Jessica Callender, Jarell Troyer, Pooja Lam and Frankie Farley respectively.
A total of 27 players competed in the 4-day tournament. Notably, five local junior players have made the International Chess Federation’s (FIDE’s) “rated players list” as at May 1st, 2022. Those players are: Junior Champion Ricardo Narine, Ronan Lee, Oluwadare Oyeyipo, Jessica Callender and Pooja Lam. The national qualifier tournaments for the Open category and Women’s category will be held this weekend, May 7th, 8th, 14th and 15th, at the National Stadium at Providence.
Interested persons can register only on guyanachess.org. The deadline for registration is May 6th at 5pm.