Barbados will be represented by a 14-member team at the inaugural FIDE Online World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships.

The Bajans will push off their campaign next Tuesday, playing against opponents from the Americas region in the global event that has attracted more than 1 300 participants from 114 countries.

Newly-crowned ladies national champion Vanessa Greenidge and Kyle Sandiford, who placed third in the national Open Championship, headline the Barbados team which is made up mainly of champions from the 2020 National Junior Youth and Cadet Championships.

Greenidge, who is also one of three joint national Under-16 Female champions, will compete in the Under-16 Girls’ age-group, while Sandiford, the reigning national Under-20 Open champion, will vie for honours in the Under-18 Open section.

Barbados will have representation in each of the five age-groups – Under-18, Under-16, Under-14, Under-12 and Under-10.

Sandiford will be joined in the Under-18 Open section by Aaron Haynes, the national Under-18 Open champion, while Kiarra Eversley, the national Under-20 Female champion, will play in the Under-18 Girls’ category.

In the Under-16 Girls’ section, Greenidge is joined by the other two reigning national Under-16 Female champions, Azaria Johnson and Gaybrianna Moore.

National Under-16 Open champion Louis Wilson and 2019 CARIFTA Under-16 Open silver medallist Yeshua Hill will carry the flag in the Under-16 Open division.

Tarquin Clark, one of two joint national Under-12 Open champions, will play in the Under-14 Open section while Yhden Layne, who was second in the national Under-14 Female Championship, will compete in the girls’ equivalent.

Rory Prescod, the national Under-14 and Under-12 Open champion, will line up in the Under-12 Open category, and Hannah Wilson, the national Under-14 and Under-12 Female champion, will compete in the Under-12 Female section.

National Under-10 Open champion Aaron Jaikaran will play in the Under-10 Open category with Kayla Culpepper, who finished second in the national Under-10 Female Championship, participating in that division.

Barbados’ non-playing captain is International Master Orlando Husbands, the national Open champion.

The team will play from the Chess Centre on Exmouth Gap, Brandons, St. Michael with the first two rounds on Tuesday from 7 p.m., the third, fourth and fifth the following night and the final two rounds on Thursday.

The Americas division contains 27 countries, including Caribbean neighbours Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Cayman Islands and Antigua and Barbuda and international opposition including, United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru and Chile among others. 

Members of the Barbados team will have their final preparation for the event during the Barbados Chess Federation’s National Rapid Championship which will be contested over the weekend as an online event for the first time.  Although it is an online event, the competitors will be playing from the Chess Centre. The first four rounds will be played on Saturday with the final three on Sunday, starting at 4 p.m. on both days. (BCF)