The 2025 Heroes Day chess festival began this weekend at the Divi Southwinds Hotel with the tournament divided into three sections, a master’s section, a challenger’s section and a novice section.In the master section, there are 6 players partaking in a double round event.

This is where each player will play against each of the other participants, once with the white pieces and once with the black pieces.These include grandmaster  Luis Lazaro Aguero Jimenez of Cuba, international master Felix Jose Ynojosa Aponte of Venezuela, FIDE master Angel Gabriel Roa Cordoba, alongside international masters Orlando Husbands and Terry Farley, and Emar Edwards.After the first day the Cuban grandmaster Aguero leads the event with 2 points having racked up victories against local boy Edwards and the Venezuelan Ynojosa.

Local international master Farley also had a good first day to sit in second place as he upset fellow Bajan Husbands in the first round before gaining a draw with the Colombian Cordoba, from a favorable position.In the challengers’ section, three players share the lead with two points in the 20-player field.

These are local playerscandidate master Justin Parsons, Adam Roachford and Justin Kirton. These are followed by a large group on 1 ½ points which include Kemp Lynch, Ronaldo Rochester, Aaron Jaikaran, Savion Little and FIDE master Dr. Philip Corbin. The section is turning out to be a very competitive one.In the novice section 5 players share the lead in the event after two rounds. These are Aidan Singh, Derick Boyce, Dominic Cadogan, Zefan Scott and Darren Toppin. Boyce has looked impressive so far in his games and will be one of the favorites in this section. He is a seasoned campaigner and would be looking to eclipse the 20-player field.The action continues over the two upcoming bank holidays at 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. and Tuesday evening at 6.00 p.m.