Chanon Reifer-Belle has won the Under 1400 rating section of the Michael Forde Memorial chess tournament held from Independence Day to the preceding weekend at the Coles Building on Bay Street, Bridgetown.

The event was played as a 10 player round robin, that is where all players will play the others and was held in honor of Forde who was an educator and pioneer in school chess development.

The field included fellow chess Olympiad female representative Kiarra Eversley who was the top-rated player, some aspiring juniors, as well as some newcomers to the chess scene.

Reifer-Belle recently returning from the Central American and Caribbean championship, dominated the field and by rounds 5 in which she defeated the then co – leader Jacob Layson, it was clear that she would be the one looking to top the field. Her toughest game would have come in round 3, where she had to use her greater experience to defeat Alesha Lovell in a long endgame.

Reifer-Belle had already won the event when she went into the last round against Eversley, but quickly overpowered her older opponent to win and amass a perfect score.

Finishing in second was Jacob Layson, with 7 ½ points. Layson played solidly throughout the event and could be well pleased with his effort in only his second tournament. His victory against the top rated Eversley was no doubt a moment to savor. With his direct and pragmatic approach, he will no doubt be one to look out for in the future.

There was a tie between Eversley and Lovell in third position with both players finishing on 6 points. Lovell finishing ahead on the tie-break which was the mutual result between the two players. Lovell having won the encounter between the two.

The next placed players finished on four points and these were Alex Sargeant and Eden Gibson.

Teenager Louis Wilson upstaged more seasoned opponents to convincingly win the Barbados Chess Federation’s (BCF) VEXX Tournament.

The 17-year-old Wilson overcame the challenge of senior Barbados representatives Justin Parsons and Emar Edwards to comfortably take top spot when the five-day event ended on Wednesday night at the Coles Building on Bay Street, Bridgetown.

Wilson, the older brother of reigning ladies national champion, Hannah Wilson, finished with six and a half out of a maximum seven points, ending a point and half more than both Parsons and Edwards, who were part of Barbados’ team at the 44^th FIDE Olympiad in Chennai, India in August.

A former national Under-16 champion, Wilson, who was seeded at No. 4, emerged as the favourite to win the event after defeating second seeded Parsons on Sunday night and third seeded Edwards the following night.  He duly took the top prize after beating veterans Othneil Harewood and Cyprian La Touche in the final two rounds.

Wilson’s quest for a 100 per cent winning record was denied when he had to settle for a draw in the third round against top seed, England-born Chris White, one of four new players entered in the tournament.

Both Parsons and Edwards finished with five points but Parsons took second place on account of winning the head to head clash in the third round.

Twelve-year-old Chanon Reifer-Belle, who won gold medals in the online rapid and blitz events at the Pan American Youth Championships earlier this year, placed fourth with four and a half points. Among her victories was an upset win against Parsons in the last round.

Harewood took fifth place on the tie-break ahead of La Touche and Alex Sargeant after all three players ended on four points.

The tournament, which was not open to players who finished in the top three spots at the National Championship and Ladies National Championship in April, attracted 16 players. Among the newcomers to BCF competitions was president of the Barbados Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation, Dr. Alfred Sparman.

The BCF will now turn its attention to the 2022 Annual General Meeting which is scheduled for Saturday at the Coles Building. (BCF)

Rising chess talents Hannah Wilson and Chanon Reifer-Belle shared third prize as Jamaican Rachel Miller took top honours in the second Margaret Prince Memorial Rapid Online Female Tournament over the weekend.

The 13-year-old Wilson, who was crowned as the youngest Barbados ladies national champion in April, and the 12-year-old Reifer-Belle, who won gold medals in the online rapid and blitz events at the Pan American Youth Championships earlier this year, both ended with five out of a maximum seven points in the two-day event that attracted regional participation

Miller, a Woman International Master who placed second behind fellow Jamaican Raehanna Brown in last year’s inaugural event, won the tournament with six points and clinched top spot with a decisive victory against Kaithlyn Tjong Tjin Joe of Suriname in the final round.

Tjong Tjin Joe started the last round as the front-runner on five and a half points, but Miller, who dropped a point when she did not contest the fourth round, prevailed to emerge as the champion.

Wilson lost to Miller in the third round and also went under to Reifer-Belle when the two Barbadians met in the fifth round. Reifer-Belle also lost to Miller in the sixth round and her other defeat was against Tjong Tjin Joe in the third round.

Samantha Aponte of Aruba also finished with five points to share the third prize with Wilson and Reifer-Belle.

The event, which was organised by the Women’s Chess Sub-Committee of the Barbados Chess Federation (BCF), attracted 24 players.

It was played in honour of Margaret Prince, Barbados’ first ever women’s chess champion who was one of the most vocal advocates for women’s chess and a founding member of the Barbados Ladies Chess Association.

The next event on the BCF’s calendar will be the VEXX Tournament, which starts on Saturday and will be played over five successive days at the Coles Building on Bay Street in Bridgetown. (BCF)