Confident chess trio depart for Umada Cup duty in Suriname

National Senior Chess Champion Taffin Khan leads a team of competent players, including proficient senior player, Maria Thomas and her junior counterpart, Anthony Drayton, and will attempt to cart off the spoils in the 3rd Umada Cup chess tournament which got underway in Paramaribo, Suriname on October 3 last and culminates tomorrow afternoon.
The two tiered tournament consists of the Challenger and Open categories and both segments will be contested over 9 rounds with the local trio only contesting for honours in the Challenger Cup.

From left – Khan, Drayton and Thomas are a confident bunch shortly before their departure to the Suriname tournament

The competition is organized under the auspices of World Chess Federation (FIDE), under the patronage of President of that organization Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and in collaboration with the Confederacion de Ajedrez para America.
The Guyanese contingent was invited to participate by the Suriname Federation and will join 50 other players from seventeen territories with the majority coming out of the Caribbean. Reports are that two FIDE masters would be participating in the tournament.
Several other countries have accepted the invitation and would be fielding competent squads including Jamaica, Trinidad and Aruba. Previously, Trinidad and Barbados had acted as hosts.