After the first round of the 2024 Michael Forde Memorial chess tournament, the newly crowned Rapid chess champion Justin Parsons is among a group of 5 players who have won their first game. The event is named after a former teacher Michael Forde of the St. George Secondary school, who was instrumental in the development of junior chess in the nineteen eighties.

Parsons, the number one seed in the event, had to fight long and hard to overcome veteran Cyprian La Touche in what was for most of its part, a dynamically balanced match. It was only in the ending where La Touche chose the wrong defensive plan was Parsons able to accomplish victory.

Other players winning their first round included the junior Savion Little who caused a major upset when he defeated the second ranked seed Chris White of England. In the final position many observers thought that White could have played on, but he chose not to.

Another upset came at the hands of Leshay Springer who downed Amari Blackett who was an Open national championship qualifier this year. With the black pieces Springer played steadily and was able to win a piece from Blackett in the ending from which he could not recover.

Other first round victors were Ronaldo Rochester and Travis Grant. A number of draws also occurred and these included Mileke Sinckler against Boris Thompson and Noah Clarke against Charis Stuart.

By the time of publication, the second round would have been completed, but the third round will continue at 10.00 a.m. at the Coles Building, Bay Street in Bridgetown.

Current national female chess champion woman FIDE master Hannah Wilson is currently campaigning at the 2024 Continental female chess championship in Dominican Republic this week. She has however found the going tough and currently has 1 ½ points from her 6 games. Initially ranked 29th in the 50-player field, Wilson currently sits in 45th position. She will be hoping to catch form in her final three games to move up the field. Currently Zoey Tang of the USA leads with 5 ½ points.

The Barbados Chess Federation in collaboration with the Central Bank of Barbados will be hosting the Central Bank Independence Blitz chess event on Saturday, November 30th at the Governor’s residence. The event will take the format of a 9 round Swiss with a time control of 3 minutes sudden death. Entry is free and prizes will be on offer.