Jeremiah Farley won the Under 11 Scholastics Open chess championship last weekend at Harrison College in the city. Farley scored an impressive 5 ½ points from his 6 matches, to finish a half-point of the second-place finisher Charis Stuart over the two days of play.
After three rounds of the seven rounds in the 2024 Dr. Philip Corbin Open chess tournament, Fide master Martyn Del Castilho has struck the front of the field with three impressive victories from his three games.
Kelvin Daniel
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6 Jun 2024, 10:57 (2 days ago)
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Charles F Broome Primary School ‘A’ team swept aside all the opponents it faced to emphatically win the 2024 Barbados Interschool Primary Chess championship held at the Wildey Gymnasium earlier in the week.
Aaron Jaikaran of Harrison College is the new Under 13 Scholastics Chess Champion after winning the event from a field of two dozen players when the event was completed recently at the Crumpton Street, the city venue of the school.
A final round push from Barbadian Emar Edwards crowned him king of the Barbados Chess Federation 2024 Heroes Day Cup ‘Challengers’ Section which concluded Wednesday night at Coles Building in the city.
Barbadian chess International Master (IM) Orlando Husbands (Rating 2290) extended his unbeaten run in the Barbados Chess Federation (BCF) 2024 Heroes Day Masters with a win over Venezuelan national champion IM Felix Jose Ynojosa Aponte in round three at Coles Building in the city.
Over the Easter weekend two playoffs to crown winners for the Barbados National Under 14 and 16 age category chess championships were played at the Harrison College school on Crumpton Street, Bridgetown.
Firstly, on Easter Saturday, Mileke Sinckler held the home advantage and duly delivered the Under 14 crown to himself and school as he battled through the four-player field to finish with two and a half points from a possible three to be clear first. He was only held to a draw in the last round by Savion Little and by then no one could catch him as he had already defeated the two other players Aaron Jaikaran and Amari Blackett. Both Blackett and Jaikaran finished a point behind the winner.
On Easter Monday, it was Queen’s College’s Kanye Williams turn to strike glory as he battled through two bruising games to capture the Under 16 title. Firstly, he defeated Jaikaran, but then he had to play against the defending champion in Noah Clarke, who had also defeated in Jaikaran.
In a game full of missed opportunities, it was Williams who first had the advantage as under a withering kingside attack, he won Clarke’s queen for two minor pieces. But Clarke with a no surrender attitude, continued to play actively and Williams would lose another piece to put Clarke in the ascendency. He however, in an attempt to side step some mating threats by Williams, eventually lost his rook and would resign shortly after.
Playoffs were necessary in both age categories as the players had all come joint first in the initial phase of the championships.
While the juniors were doing their thing locally, two senior players were competing abroad. Locally based Englishman, Chris White campaigned in Martinique with some success in the 11e Open International de Martinique – Memorial Joel Gratien to score 5 points from a possible 9 and finish in 19th position from 65 players. The event was eventually won by French grandmaster Christian Bauer.
President of the Barbados Chess Federation Allan Herbert, played in the Canadian Championship Festival last week and finished in 32nd place from 66 players. He was initially the 17th ranked players and would have fancied himself with a better showing. The event was won by Hanuel Park of South Korea, ahead of Sarthak Deshpande of Canada, after both players scored 6 points from a possible 7.
Hannah Wilson once again showed why she is the top junior chess player when she convincingly won the 2024 Under 20 Female chess champion recently. What was more impressive was that she won from a field which not only included the female players on show, but also involved the male players as the subscription of female players was small.
Wilson won all six of her games to achieve his first tourney win of the year and get her packed chess calendar year off to a perfect start. Wilson, who recently secured the Junior Outstanding Sportsperson Award 2023 in the female category in Barbados was only challenged by Simon Lamm of Jamaica in their round three clash. Lamm, who is studying at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies was the surprise of the event and according to Wilson played impressively in their encounter.
Lamm scored 5 points from his 6 matches and would eventually be crowned the Under 20 Open champion.
Leshay Springer finished second in the female section with a credible 3 ½ points. She would have been elated by her performance, especially her defeat of Loki Clarke, a much higher rated player who had won the XIV IRT Híbrido de Las Americas Open chess event late last year. Sariah Mc Clean came third in the female section.
Nathan Griffith, with three points, finished in second in the open section while Clarke on two and a half, underperformed in the event finishing third in that section.
Darren Toppin of Charles . F. Broomes Primary school is the new National Under 12 Open chess champion when he won the event over the weekend at Harrison College from a stacked field which included the defending champion Jonathan Griffith, the current Under 10 champion Charis Stuart and the Under 9 champion Jerimiah Farley. It also included the top rated under 12 player Chaz Reifer-Belle.
It came down to the final round in an intense finish as three players from the two dozen participants went into the final round with possible chances to win the event. These included Toppin and Farley on four points, as well as the then leader Nathan Simmons – Patterson, who led with 4 ½ points.
In the final 6th round, Toppin faced Simmons-Patterson, while Farley faced Stuart. In a round which saw these players spending as much time looking at the neighboring games as much as their own, the results saw Toppin toppling Simmons-Patterson and Stuart defeating Farley.
The final results thus saw Toppin in first place with 5 points with Simmons-Patterson on four points edging out Stuart on the tie-break. Farley, Reifer-Belle and Kymani Gayle finished just off the podium on four points. Toppin thus claimed his first title and will be looking to win more throughout the year.
Browne wins Under 12 Girls championship.
Janiyah Browne turned the tables on last years defending champion Jaeda Herbert to capture the national Under 12 female championships. She was in dominant form as she won all six of her games in emphatic fashion with her only challenging match being against the eventual second place finisher Herbert. Herbert finished in clear second on 5 points. Sameera Jaikaran finished in third spot with 3 points from her 6 matches. It was thus a double victory for the Charles F Broomes school. Kudos to the coach Mr. Corie Elcock.
The junior players will all be looking to compete over the next weekend in the Under 8. 10 and 14 championships to be played tentatively at the St. Michael school.
