Parsons wins Michael Forde Memorial Open Chess Championships

Justin Parsons won the Open section of the 2022 Michael Forde Memorial chess tournament in grand style by scoring 8 points from a possible 9.

The tournament was played as a ten player round robin event, which is with each player having to play each other once. Parsons went into the tournament as the second seed, with Chris White of England being the highest rated player in the event.

Parsons’s tournament got off to a rocky start, when he lost in the first round to current Under 14 Central American and Caribbean silver medalist Hannah Wilson. This defeat motivated Parsons as he quickly began to amass consecutive victories, and after four rounds, he was now only a half point behind the then leader Cyprian LaTouche.

A loss by LaTouche in round five to fellow veteran Othneil Harewood allowed Parsons to leapfrog him into the lead and from here, there was no looking back. Parsons continued to rack up victory after victory while La Touche fell away with three consecutive defeats in the final three rounds of the 9-round event.

Adam Roachford gave a spirited account of himself to finish in second position on 6 ½ points. His only losses coming to the eventual winner and LaTouche, while drawing against Louis Wilson. He however was able to knock off the top seed White.

White finished in third on 5 ½ points, ahead of the likes of Allan Herbert and Hannah Wilson on five. Louis Wilson, Harewood, Travis Grant and Ernest King then brought up the rest of the field in that respective order.

The first two finishers were both representatives of Barbados at the recent Chess Olympiad in India and their results can no doubt be partially attributed to the coaching they would have received for that event.