Blackman wins final Grand Prix, Del Castilho takes overall honours

Justin Blackman won the final event with a clean sweep of the boards last weekend but Martyn Del Castilho claimed the overall honours in the Barbados Chess Federation’s online rapid Grand Prix Series.

Blackman, the reigning Caribbean Blitz champion, defeated Del Castilho in a top of the table fourth round clash and went on to finish with a perfect seven points in the final event of the series.

Akeem Cox took second place with five-and-a-half points while the youthful Rory Prescod, who ended with five points, finished third on the tie-break ahead of Emar Edwards and Hannah Wilson.

It was Blackman’s third tournament triumph in the six-event series, but Del Castilho, who won the three preceding events, still comfortably emerged as the Grand Prix champion.

Del Castilho, a six-time national champion, placed sixth in the final event with four-and-a-half points but sealed the overall title with 512 points – under the format of the series, players were awarded Grand Prix points in each event based on their percentage score in each tournament

Fellow FIDE Master Blackman, who missed the fourth event of the series, finished second overall with 455 points while Cox, a former national Under-20 champion rounded off the top three with 419 points.

Edwards, a well-known figure in road tennis circles and a former national Under-18 chess champion, was fourth with 391 points and also claimed the prize in the sub-category for the Best player rated between 1300 and 1599.

The 13-year-old Prescod, the 2020 national Under-14 and Under-12 champion, was fifth with 363 points and also won the prize in the sub-category for the Best player rated between 1000 and 1299.

The 12-year-old Wilson, last year’s national female Under-14 and Under-12 champion, finished sixth with 347 points and also secured honours as the top female player.

The list of the top ten was completed by Julissa Figueroa (342 points), Gaybrianna Moore (327), Melvin Terence (304) and Adam Roachford (299).

Taariq Callender, who placed 16^th with 226 points, won the prize for the Best unrated player.

The final event attracted 25 players and there were 35 competitors in the series which started in February and was organised as an online completion in view of the COVID-19 restrictions on sporting events. (BCF)