Wilson wins Silver for Barbados at CAC Youth Chess Championship

Barbados top junior female player Hannah Wilson has won the silver medal at the 2022 Central American and Caribbean(C.A.C) Under 14 female chess championship which was played in Tegucigalpa, Honduras over the last week.

Wilson went in as the number one seed and was the Under 12 female champion from last year and was the fancied player in the field. Things however went awry for Wilson when she lost to the eventual winner Daniela Deycy Raymundo of Guatemala in round three. From here Wilson would have to play catch- up for the rest of the tournament. She immediately started the chase in earnest from the next round, when she defeated Aradhana Singh of Trinidad, and the leader Raymundo drew against Esther Lobo from Panama. Both players then won all their games up to the final round when Wilson won but Raymundo drew their respective games.

This meant that both players finished on 7 ½ points from 9. But Raymundo would win on the fact that the first tie-break was the direct result of their match and Raymundo had been victorious over Wilson then. So, Raymundo would gain the gold medal and Wilson the silver. Lobo came third on 7 points.

The other Bajan in this section of the event was Chanon Reifer-Belle. Reifer-Belle found the going a little tough but finished with a credible 50 %. She initially was ranked 5th of the 15 players from 7 countries, but she finally finished in 7th position.

Barbados also had two players in the Under 18 combined sections. Louis Wilson was our open representative and Gaybrianna Moore our female. The two sections were combined after enough females had not registered for a separate female event.

Louis started brightly and was in joint 8th position with 2 ½ points after 4 rounds. He however managed only two points in his final 5 games and could finish no higher than 13th spot in the 29-player field.

Gaybrianna Moore finished in 23rd place overall and 6th among the girls in the combined field with 3 ½ points. The Open section was won by Alan Otero of Cuba, while Sofia Mayorga of Costa Rica was the top female.

The C.A.C Youth festival had just over 250 players representing 9 countries in 18 age category sections from Under 8 to Under 18 Male/Female .(BCF)