WE should soon know who the new Bermuda chess champion is but it will need a playoff between Sami Lill and Moses Mufandaedza to decide the winner.

The pair were the only players with six points from seven rounds.

There might have been three players in the playoff, but Nick Faulks, on five points, missed the last round.

Here are other players' final score:

Kumi Bradshaw 4½, Frank Ming , Bobby Miller, Larry Ebbin, David Shanks , William Faulks and Joel Bamogo 4, Gary Cooper and Pete Saunders 3½, Kennedy Simmons, Neville Darrell, John Kessaram, Earlston Brown and Nyasha Dhitima 3, Ricardo Davis 2, Richard Burton 1½, Baljit Saini and Ayo Johnson ½.

This week will be the start of a new tournament one which I think is long overdue.

It is the President's Shield tournament, in honour of our longstanding (and outstanding!) president Nigel Freeman (pictured), who is now the treasurer for the world body of chess, FIDE.

That Nigel has this title reflects all the hard work and dedication he has put into our own national chess team as well as representing Bermuda at various levels all around the world. Nigel's love of chess and all his endeavours have finally been recognised and we are proud to have him as president of our local Chess Club.

Here is one of his last games as a chess player in the 36th Olympiad in Calvia, Mallorca. It was in round 2 when Freemanl was playing White and Pradeep Seegolam was playing Black.

In diagram 1, it is Black to move. And Seegolam could see that Freeman had a pin on his queen and could gain a free pawn so he moved his queen.

In diagram 2, it's all in Freeman's hands, as there is nothing that Seegolam can attack.

In Diagram 3, Seegolam was hoping for a queen trade, but Freeman captured the knight as you can see in Diagram 4.

After this, Seegolam resigned because Freeman had material advantage.

Nigel Freeman: White

Pradeep Seegolam: Black

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 0-0 7. Bg5 Nbd7 8. e3 b6 9. Nf3 Bb7 10. Rc1 Qe8 11. Be2 Ne4 12. Qc2 dxc4 13. Bxc4 Nxg5 14. Nxg5 g6 15. 0-0 Qe7 16. Ne4 Qh4 17. f3 Rac8 18. Qf2 Qe7 19. Qg3 Bxe4 20. fxe4 Nb8 21. Rf3 c5 22. d5 Nd7 23. d6 Qe8 24. Bb5 f6 25. Rcf1 Kg7 26. e5 f5 27. e4 Qf7 28. Bc4 Qe8 29. h4 fxe4 30. Rxf8 Nxf8 31. Qf4 Nd7 32. Bb5 Rd8 33. Qxe4 a6 34. Bxa6 Rb8 35. Bb5 Qd8 36. Qf4 Qf8 37. Bxd7

1-0