Prescod, Wilson tops among English-speaking Caribbean players

National junior champions Rory Prescod and Louis Wilson emerged as the top finishers from the English-speaking Caribbean in their categories in the Americas division of the FIDE Online World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships.

Prescod, the national Under-14 and Under-12 Open champion and Wilson, the national Under-16 champion, both finished the seven-round event with three points as the Bajans ended their campaign on Thursday night at the Chess Centre on Exmouth Gap, Brandons, St. Michael.

Wilson finished 22^nd of 31 competitors in the Under-16 Open category while Prescod was 26^th of 34 entrants in the Under-12 Open section.

Barbados players scored ten wins during the last two rounds on the final night of competition with Prescod and national Under-18 champion Aaron Haynes leading the way with two victories each.

Prescod defeated Kyle Couchman of Guyana in the penultimate round and followed up with a win against Jaheim Smart of Jamaica to complete his third straight victory.

Haynes, who also ended with three points in the Under-18 Open category, won against Ethan Lee of Guyana in the sixth round and ended with another win over Jonathan Solomon of Antigua and Barbuda.

Apart from Wilson, Prescod, and Haynes, two other Barbadians finished with three points – Vanessa Greenidge and Gaybrianna Moore, who both competed in the Under-16 Girls’ division.

Greenidge, the newly crowned ladies national champion and a joint national Under-16 female champion, finished 17^th of 27 competitors to register the highest placing by a Barbadian at the event.

Moore defeated Morales Gomez of Panama in the sixth round where Barbados also gained wins from Azaria Johnson and Yhden Layne. Johnson defeated Cadeau Merisena of Haiti in the Under-16 Girls’ category while Layne won against another Haitian, Kimberlie Dunat in the Under-14 Girls’ age-group.

In the final round, Barbados’ five victories came from Prescod, Wilson, Haynes, Yeshua Hill and Kiarra Eversley.

Wilson defeated Jamesley Decimus of Haiti, Hill won over Joshua Khan of Guyana in the Under-16 Open section and Eversley got the better of another Guyanese, Sasha Shariff in the Under-18 Girls’ division.

The FIDE Online World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships, staged for the first time in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is being played in continental divisions ahead of the final stage. The Championships have attracted more than 1 300 participants from 114 countries. (BCF)