Veteran FIDE master Dr. Philip Corbin and young Junior Corbin, unrelated, won the two sections of the 2026 I.M. Kevin Denny Open chess tournament when the event was completed at the Barbados Football Association headquarters over the last weekend.

In the Fide rated section of the event, Philip Corbin rolled back the years to record his first tournament victory in many years in what turned out to be a highly competitive section.

It all came down to the last round, where Jeremiah Farley went into his last match a half point ahead of Dr. Philip Corbin and current ladies champion woman fide master Hannah Wilson. Farley faced off against Justin Kirton, while Philip would match wits with Wilson.

In a tense atmosphere, Farley fought well but eventually found himself down some pawns in the late middle game and Kirton was able to use these extra pawns to secure victory.

While that was occurring, Philip was able to work up a furious attack on Wilson’s king in the center, where she inexcusably left it. In his element, Philip was able to apply significant pressure and was on the verge of winning a piece when Wilson resigned from the game. With these two results, it meant that Philip had leapfrogged Farley in the standings to finish in first on 5 ½ points, while Farley would come second on the tie-break with 5 points.

Justin Parsons also finished with 5 points along with Kirton and Ronaldo Rochester as all these players won their individual last round games. Parsons edged out the other two on the tie-break to finish third and grab the final qualifier spot from this event for the 2026 National Open chess championship finals.

Other victories in the last round came for Othneil Harewood, Jefferson Farley, Cyprian La Touche, Rebekah Lashley, Sameera Jaikaran and Paul Thompson.

In the Novice unrated section, it was even more tight as three players finished on 6 points, and it was Junior Corbin who won on tie-break ahead of Raef Clarke and Kevin St. Hill.

Going into the last round, all the three mentioned players topped the leader board with 5 points and all three duly won their respective matches to finish on 6.

Clarke would have led the event alone after 4 rounds with four straight victories, but when he fell to defeat against Corbin in round 5, it was now a matter of who could hold on to clinch victory. St. Hill also showed good staying power as also only last one of his 7 matches.

Other results in the last round saw victories for William Allen, Miguel Mings, Kendrick Corbin, Nia Snow Clarke, and James Alleyne.

With roughly 40 players competing in the two sections the event was deemed a success. It is played in honor of international master Kevin Denny, a thirteen-time national chess champion and is the second qualifier for the National Open chess championship finals.

The next event on the calendar will be the 2026 Primary Interschool team chess championship to be played June 18 – 19.