Who will be the next Senior Chess Champion?: Khan, Nathoo headed into play-off in GAICO National Chess Championship

Senior chess players Loris Nathoo (1703) and Candidate Master (CM) Taffin Khan (2005) are headed into a play-off soon to vie for the 2023 National Open Championship title. The play-off result will determine the new champion.
Both players ended their encounters with nine , with the highest scores of 7.5 points each in the just-concluded tournament.
The well-experienced players will face each other in an exciting and tense struggle in a three-game match of Speed Chess. A date and venue for the confrontation to finally take place will be announced shortly. The total playing time of the three games is a maximum of one hour and is expected to be a brutal struggle between the two alert minds.
Each contender will be allotted 15, 10, and 5 minutes on the clock from the first to the third games, respectively, under the watchful eyes of Tournament Arbiter John Lee.

If the scores are still even after three games, the contenders will move to the sudden death stage of the play-off in blitz chess with five minutes each on the clock. The clock will count down the opponents’ time as they grapple to score wins over each other.
During the fast-paced play-off, Nathoo and Khan will be compelled to employ strategy and tactics with caution and speed to outplay each other.
Nathoo has never participated in a play-off in a National Chess Championship.
However, Khan participated in a similar play-off in the 2010 Championship, where he confronted former National Champion Berbician Kriskal Persaud and won that contest over a decade ago.
Local chess history will repeat itself with another championship play-off. Again, as in the previous one, this will end with only one Senior National Chess Champion.
The players offered their expectations of the upcoming ‘blitzkrieg’ match.
Nathoo remarked that he was eagerly anticipating once again, over the chess board, battling with the “enigmatic strategist, “The Compressor”, CM Taffin Khan. I will be entering the contest as the underdog, and that is what brings out the best in me.
“Win or lose, it will be a contest that I relish,” Nathoo concluded.
“I hope to win” was Khan’s terse response.
The true result will crystallise soon.
Meanwhile, the five junior players who participated in the National Open Championship fought valiantly to improve their performance and made dents in the scores of some seniors. They were the boldest of the young players who mustered the mental fortitude to compete against the top seniors in the competition.
The overall points standings at the end of the nine-round GAICO-sponsored Championship are Khan and Nathoo with 7.5 apiece, Junior Champion Keron Sandiford and Jaden Taylor with 5 points each, Senior Justino Da Silva just under the two top juniors with 4.5 points, followed by Saeed Ali and Junior Sachin Pitamber together with 4. Senior Gilbert Williams and Junior Ethan Lee are on a joint score of 3.5, while Junior Rolex Alexander remained with .5 at the end of the competition.
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) wished to thank GAICO for its sponsorship of the 2023 National Chess Championship. GAICO has been a long-term sponsor of chess tournaments over the years. Gratitude was also extended to the National Sports Commission for access to the Resource Centre for the Championship games.