International master Orlando Husbands returned to his winning ways on the chess board as he dominate the 2023 Central Bank of Barbados (CBB) July Blitz Championship held over the last weekend at the Coles Building, Bay Street, Bridgetown.

Blitz chess is akin to T-20 cricket where the action is fast paced and in this event each player had three minutes with a two – second increment per move to complete their games and Husbands wasted no time in defeating all the nine opponents that he faced to convincingly win the event with 9 points, a point ahead of the second place finisher Kemp Lynch.

Husbands struck the front of the field at round 4, when he defeated the current Central Bank governor and former national player Dr, Kevin Greenidge in a match full of verbal bravado and from then, it was a matter of Husbands keeping his foot on the gas until the end of the tournament.

Kemp Lynch finished a strong second on 8 points, having only lost a single game to the overall winner, Husbands. He would have been proud of his performance as he took some higher rated scalps like Greenidge and FIDE master Dr. Philip Corbin.
Dr. Corbin came a creditable third with 6 points from his 9 matches after a long layoff from active over the board competition. Top rated junior player Hannah Wilson scored 5 ½ points to be the top female performer in the event in fourth spot.

Adam Roachford and Louis Wilson scored 5 points to finish 5th and 6th respectively, with Roachford winning the Under 1400 rating prize, while Wilson captured the 1401 – 1600 rating prize.
The event was a fast paced, fun fill event which allowed the players to show their chess playing skills under the gracious auspices of the sponsor Central Bank of Barbados.

After two of the three days of the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games Rapid chess championships being played in El Salvador, the Barbados teams continue to put in a creditable performance.

The tournament is played with an Open and female section, in a rapid format with each team being made up of 2 members. They are 16 qualified teams per section with each team having to play all the others with a fixed board order.

After 10 of the 15 rounds, the Barbados Open team featuring international master Orlando Husbands and FIDE master Martyn Del Castilho are in 7th position with 11 points out of a possible 20. Both players have scored 5 ½ points from their 10 games so far. They have won 5 or their matches, defeating the likes of Trinidad, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Honduras, and a pleasing 2 – 0 victory over the host El Salvador.

Both players have shown gritty determination, and this was especially seen when Husbands held the highest rated player in the event Cuban grandmaster Carlos Daniel Albornoz to a draw in round 9.

The ladies’ team of Hannah Wilson and Julissa Figueroa have also been holding their own in the event. After 10 matches, they currently sit in 9th position from the 16 teams with 7 points. They have won two matches against Jamaica and Dominican Republic and drawn against Panama, Costa Rica, and the mighty Cuban team.

The draw against Cuba was facilitated by Julissa Figueroa, who defeated woman grandmaster Yerisbel Llanes Miranda, the highest rated female in the event. In an exciting game that went down to an endgame, Julissa showed better technique in a dynamic position to secure a memorable victory. This has been the only blemish on Miranda’s record as she has scored 9 points out of 10 so far.

So far in the event, Colombia leads in the Open section with 17 points, a half point ahead of Venezuela, while Cuba leads the female section also with 17 points, also a half point ahead of Puerto Rico.

The Barbados chess team has qualified for the 2023 Central American and Caribbean games to be held in El Salvador in June this year.

The team qualified for the championship over the weekend when they played on the online Tornelo platform. The event was a two player team event, played in an Open and female section. It was a rapid event played at the time control of 15 minutes with 30 second increment from move one for each player to complete their moves.

Fifteen teams would qualify from the event in each section to join the host country in the final. Barbados was represented in the Open section by current national champion Fide master Martyn del Castilho and international master Orlando Husbands and by woman candidate master Julissa Figueroa and top junior female player Hannah Wilson.

In the Open section, Barbados finished 11^th place from 20 teams scoring 10 ½ points from a possible 22 points. The players played 11 games each with the sum of  points being the team’s overall tally. Husbands tallied 5  ½ points after some initial connection issues, while Del Castilho score 5 points.

Husbands best result was a draw against  Grandmaster Luis Ibarra Chami of Mexico but he did suffer an upset against St. Lucia junior Nathaniel Mathurin. Del Castilho best result was a draw against Grandmaster Luis Queseda of Cuba. Both players were inconsistent in their efforts but duly completed their qualification. The Cuban team won the event followed by Colombia and Mexico.

In the female section, the Barbados team qualified in 14^th spot with 9 ½ points from the 18 team field. Wilson scored 5 points from 11 and Figueroa scored 4 ½.The Cuban female team dominated the event and won quite easily. Just like the males, the females performed below their initial rankings and both teams will have to take the 5 months or so before the finals to put in some serious work to get into medal contention in the finals.