Guyana’s top chess players, Candidate Master Taffin Khan and national women’s champion Jessica Callender, are in the mix for a solid finish as the Subzonal 2.3.3 Absolute and Women’s Chess Championships head into the final stretch in Trinidad.
Hosted at the Cascadia Hotel and Conference Centre in St Ann’s, the tournament wraps up on Thursday, 18 April, with both Khan and Callender looking to leave their mark in a high-quality regional field.
Khan, Guyana’s 2025 Blitz Champion, and Callender, a two-time national women’s champion, have plenty of tournament pedigree between them and have handled the pressure well across the opening rounds.
The competition features nine classical-format rounds and is run according to international pairing rules. It’s been organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Chess Association in partnership with the Confederation of Chess for the Americas (CCA), and brings together players from across the Caribbean and parts of Central America.
Participants hail from Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Curaçao, Guyana, Haiti and Jamaica – all chasing top honours and a place in future zonal and continental events under the World Chess Federation (FIDE) calendar.
With just two rounds left to play, the Guyanese pair will be hoping to draw on their experience, maintain their focus, and finish strong in what’s been a tightly contested tournament so far.
