13-year-old Wilson crowned youngest Barbados ladies national champion

Rising chess talent Hannah Wilson has created history by becoming the youngest player to win the Barbados Chess Federation’s Ladies National Championship.

The 13-year-old upstaged more seasoned opponents, including two former ladies national champions, to win the title in exciting fashion when the Championship concluded on Wednesday night at the Coles Building on Bay Street, Bridgetown.

In what turned out to be a ‘final’ in the last round, Wilson, needing nothing less than a win against front-runner Julissa Figueroa, pulled out all the stops to defeat the 2018 ladies national champion in a four-hour duel and put her name in the record books.

Wilson, the no. 4 seed, ended the round robin event (each of the nine entrants played each other) with seven out of a maximum eight points and in the process became the youngest person to win the Championship – the previous youngest was Rashaana Blenman, who was 14 when she was crowned champion in 1993.

The 33-year-old Figueroa, the no. 2 seed who was unbeaten going into the final round with a half-point lead, finished second with six and a half points, while top seed and five-time national ladies champion Katrina Blackman, 29, was third with five and a half points.

Gaybrianna Moore, the only player to beat Wilson in the event, ended the five points to take fourth place on the tie-break ahead of Kiarra Eversley.

Wilson, who finished second behind champion Vanessa Greenidge in the 2020 Championship, first served notice of her intention to challenge for the title when she defeated Blackman in the second round on the opening day last Saturday.

Despite losing to Moore in the fifth round, Wilson held firm to take the honours to add another major accolade following outstanding international performances last year when she captured a gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Youth Festival and a silver at the Pan American Youth Festival in the Under-12 female section.

The National Open Championship, which was played simultaneously with the National Ladies Championship, will be decided on Saturday afternoon with a play-off after the top two seeds, Orlando Husbands and Martyn Del Castilho, finished level on eight out of a maximum nine points.

The Championships were the first over the board events hosted by the Barbados Chess Federation in more than seven months following the announcement by Government officials in March to allow a resumption of indoor sports.

The next event on the calendar will be the Heroes Day Cup, which starts on Sunday and will run until next Thursday. (BCF)