Over the board chess tournaments are set to resume this weekend with the start of the National Championship 2^nd Qualifier at the Chess Centre on Exmouth Gap, Brandons, St. Michael.

It will be first event hosted by the Barbados Chess Federation (BCF) in the COVID-19 environment and protocols have been put in place to ensure the health and safety of participants.

Competitors and officials will be required to have temperature checks on arrival at the venue; they are required to wear face masks; they are encouraged to sanitise their hands liberally and players should stay three feet away from all other players bar their opponent. Additionally, no spectators will be allowed in the playing hall.

This over the board event follows Barbados’ participation in the inaugural FIDE Online Olympiad in which they finished seventh in Division 3 which was contested from August 7 to 9.

The Qualifier pushes off on Saturday at 4 p.m. with the first of seven rounds. Given the size of the Chess Centre, if the number of entries exceeds 20 players, each round of games will be played over two days with the top half of the draw playing on one day and the bottom half the next day. As a result, the Qualifier will run until September 4.

The top three finishers will advance to the National Championship finals set for October 10 to 20 and the last three players will come from the 3^rd Qualifier which is scheduled from September 6 to 19. Awaiting the qualifiers in the finals will be the defending champion Orlando Husbands.

When the 1^st Qualifier was staged in January, teenager Kyle Sandiford prevailed by upstaging senior rivals with Emar Edwards finishing second and Akeem Cox third.

The BCF was hoping to resume over the board tournaments with the conclusion of the Secondary Inter-Schools Championships on August 15 at the Wildey Gymnasium. However, after consultations with representatives of the eight competing schools on their willingness to conclude the Championships, a decision was taken not to continue with the Championships. The competition started on March 14 and was due to finish on March 21 but was suspended on March 18 after the island recorded its first COVID-19 case.

The BCF also took a decision not to stage the Primary Inter-School Championships but most of the tournaments on its original 2020 calendar have been included in a revised schedule. (BCF)