Blackman maintains unbeaten run at Chess Olympiad

FIDE Master Justin Blackman maintained his unbeaten run and once again prevented Barbados from avoiding a clean sweep of the boards on the fourth day of the 44^th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India on Monday.

The 30-year-old Blackman defeated the higher rated Nicholas Croad, but the Barbados Open team suffered a 3-1 defeat against New Zealand at the Sheraton Mahabalipuram Resort and Convention Centre.

It was another also another difficult day for Barbados’ Women who crashed to their third 4-0 defeat, this time going under to Tajikistan.

For the second successive day, both Barbados teams came up against higher ranked opposition and were unable to avoid defeat.

Blackman, Barbados’ most successful player at the 2018 Olympiad, however, kept his unbeaten record in tact by completing his second victory to go along with two draws.

Barbados’ Open team, which is ranked no. 124 out of 188 teams, faced off against 92^nd ranked New Zealand and found the going tough.

International Master Orlando Husbands, Barbados’ top rated player, lost to Daniel Hanwen Gong while Olympiad newcomers Emar Edwards and Adam Roachford went under to Felix Xie and John Stark respectively.

On the women’s boards, the Bajans, seeded at no. 111 out of 162 teams, were outplayed by 80th ranked Tajikistan.

Woman Candidate Master Katrina Blackman lost to Woman FIDE Master Nadezhda Antonova; Gaybrianna Moore, who replaced Hannah Wilson in the line-up after sitting out the previous two rounds, went under to Sabrina Abrorova; Kiarra Eversley lost to Rukhshona Saidova; and Chanon Reifer-Belle went under to Mutriba Hotami. (BCF)