After three rounds of the seven rounds in the 2024 Dr. Philip Corbin Open chess tournament, Fide master Martyn Del Castilho has struck the front of the field with three impressive victories from his three games.

In the last round Del Castilho showed his playing prowess in a tough game against the ever-improving Adam Roachford. At the start of the game, many pundits believed that Roachford had caught the former national champion out in the opening as Del Castilho moved his king early in the game and this is one of the moves that you are told from a junior not to do. However, Del Castilho played the line correctly and after soaking up some initial pressure he was able to turn around the attack and score a hard-fought victory.

Kemp Lynch lies a half point behind the leader with two and a half points after defeating Jerimiah Farley in the third round. Also sharing the second spot is Lawrence Depradine who won from veteran Cyprian LaTouche to also have two and a half points.

Other players recording victory in this third were Travis Grant, Julissa Figueroa and the ever-green Othneil Harewood.

The highlight game of the fourth round will see Del Castilho facing off against Lynch, while Depradine battles Roachford. Action will continue at 5.00 p.m. this Saturday at the Coles Building, with the final two rounds being on Sunday at 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m.

The first three finishers from this event will be the final qualifiers for the 2024 Barbados Open National chess championship finals.

 Wilson campaigns at PanAmerican Youth Chess Championship

Top rated female player Hannah Wilson is the only Barbados player taking part in  the 34th PanAmerican Youth chess championships, being played in Florida, U.S.A. Wilson is playing in the Under 16 female section of the event, which has hundreds of players participating in the 12 age categories open and female/.

In the classical format of the event, Wilson currently sits in 11th position in the 23 player field with 3 ½ points from her 6 games so far. She has won two games, drawn three and lost only one to Hema Vikas of the U.S.A. Wilson sits 2 ½ points off the leader, woman’s international master Sofia Mayorga Araya  of Costa Rica who has won all 6 of her matches so far. Wison would be looking to close the gap at the backend of the event.

In the blitz section of the event, Wilson finished the event in joint third position on 5 ½ points from 10 games. She lost out on the tie-break to Vikas. Anika Rajaram of the U.S.A won the event with 8 points. Moyarga Araya was second on 7 points. Blitz is a fast form of chess where players have 3 minutes with a 30 second increment per move in order to complete the game.