Drayton register win on day one

Feb 01, 2021 Sports

Kaieteur News- The first round-robin matches of the 2021 National senior Chess Championships got underway on Saturday at the National Stadium, Providence, where defending champion; FIDE Master Anthony Drayton had a successful start to his title defence with a win against Rai Sharma.

Anthony Drayton (left) and Rai Sharma during their first round match on Saturday.

Drayton described the matchup as not difficult even though it finished in 46 moves. He explained that, “In light of the new chess movie Queen’s Gambit, I choose the very same weapon as my first game opening choice and by the eighth move my opponent gave up the Bishop pair and blundered a pawn at the very next move…after that it was smooth sailing until the game finished.”
“It was only after the game during revision I realised that I too made a critical blunder at move 16 which could have cost me the game by losing a piece but luckily for me, my opponent was playing very fast and didn’t capitalise on it.”

“In the coming matches I will have to keep my focus to be able to regain my title because the other players wouldn’t be so kind to miss an opportunity like that,” Drayton mentioned.
In the other two completed games on Saturday, Taffin Khan got past veteran Errol Tiwari, while Davion Mars and Loris Nathoo drew their match.
Khan employed the closed Sicilian variation and the game was equally poised until move 16 where Tiwari missed a combination that led to him losing his Queen. And, after that, Khan just followed basic chess to complete the victory.
The game between Wendell Meusa and Glenford Corlette that was scheduled for Saturday will be played tomorrow instead.
The tournament is being coordinated by the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) and has been approved by the National Covid-19 task force. (Calvin Chapman)

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