Wilson, Johnson win gold for Barbados at CAC Youth Chess Festival

Hannah Wilson and Azaria Johnson won gold as Barbados secured four medals at the Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess Festival.

Wilson took top spot in the Under-12 Female section while Johnson was the winner of the Under-18 Female division when the five-day event concluded on Wednesday night.

Barbados also won silver through Gaybrianna Moore in the Under-18 Female category and bronze by way of Chanon Reifer-Belle in the Under-12 Female section in the five-day event played over nine rounds.

The Festival, which was contested under the aegis of the Confederation of Chess for Americas and hosted by the El Salvador Chess Federation, was played under a hybrid format given the COVID-19 pandemic – players resident in one country assembled at a location in that country to play their games online on their computers under the supervision of arbiters.

Barbados were represented by a ten-member team which competed from the Coles Building on Bay Street in Bridgetown.

Given the insufficient number of female entries, the Open and Female categories were merged in all five age-groups but prizes were awarded in both sections.

Wilson, who was seeded no. 2 among the nine girls entered in the Under-12 section, finished with six and a half out of a maximum nine points and her gold medal followed her capture of a silver in the same age-group at the Pan American Youth Chess Festival in September.

Reifer-Belle ended with six points but missed out on the silver medal on the tie-break with Araya Sofia Mayorga of Costa Rica.

Wilson went into the last round with a half-point lead and a draw against Lopez Monroy of Guatemala was enough to confirm her as the champion while Reifer-Belle also drew with top seed Carlos Roberto Ibarra of El Salvador to ensure a podium finish.

Johnson and Moore were the only two female competitors in the Under-18 category and were guaranteed medals given the lack of other entries. Johnson secured gold with two points and Moore took silver with one point.

In the Under-18 Open division, Aaron Haynes finished fifth with four and a half points while Louis Wilson was seventh on four points.

Among the Under-16s, Yeshua Hill scored three and a half points to finish ninth in the Open section and Alesha Lovell had three points that placed her sixth in the Female division.

In the Under-14 Open section, Melvin Terence was tenth with four and a half points and Tarquin Clark 12^th on four points.

The Festival attracted 89 players from five countries – hosts El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. (BCF)