After three rounds of the 2026 Barbados Heroes Day chess event being played at the Grande Salle, Central Bank of Barbados they are several surprise leaders in each of the three sections.

The event is being played in three sections; Section A is for players who have a FIDE ELO rating above 1800; Section B is for players whose ELO rating is between 1400 – 1800, while the Section C is for unrated players.

In Section C, three players are in the lead with 3 points after the first 3 matches of the 7-round event. The players are Benjamin Farmer, Zane Ward and Rene Lashley.

In the last round Farmer defeated Liam Byer, Rene Lashley won against William Deer and Ward was able to overcome Paul Thompson. Maximus Gonsalves sits alone in third spot with 2 ½ points. He defeated Keiron Alleyne with the black pieces in round 3 to come within striking distance of the leaders. There are 7 other players on two points who will feel that they are still in with a chance to win the event from the field of just over two dozen players.

In the next round, the featured games will see Ward versus Farmer, while Gonzalves will battle Lashley.

In Section B, two players share the lead in the 30-player field. The are the inform Loki Clarke and the Grenadian female player Rhonda Lambert.

Clarke has continued his recent run of form and in round 3 defeated the stubborn veteran Cyprian LaTouche with some accurate play. Having captured the Section C of the recently held SITTU Barbados Open and played unbeaten at the Secondary School team championship, Clarke will seek to extend his current winning streak of 16 games in recent over-the board tournament play

Rhonda Lashley of Grenada is the other co-leader of this section. She has been the find of the event and has looked impressive in defeating some of Barbados’s more experienced players. In round two, she defeated Barbados national female player Gaybrianna Moore and then in round three she downed the veteran Othneil Harewood . She is also in fine form as she recently won the Grenada Independence female tournament.

There are 4 players who sit in joint third position currently with 2 ½ points. These are Nathan Simmons-Patterson, Janiyah Browne, Charis Stuart and Allan Herbert, while a further 8 has two points and will still favor their chances after these early exchanges.

Featured matches in the next round will see Lambert against Clarke, Simmons-Patterson against Herbert, while Browne plays against Stuart.

In Section A of the event Jamaican Darren McKennis has the sole lead with 3 points followed closely by local youngster Jeremiah Farley on 2 ½ points.

In the last round McKennis defeated Justin Kirton, who would have finished second in the 2025 Barbados National chess championship final. Darren  has looked quite competent and will be a favorite to capture this section.

Farley, however, will be looking to upset the apple cart and steal this event from the small field. He has already claimed a major scalp when he defeated international master Orlando Husbands in the first round. In a game with opposite-colored bishops, where many pundits thought it would have been a draw, Husbands pressed hard for victory, but Farley was the one who played more accurately to claim victory.

Ronaldo Rochester sits in third with 1 ½ points, while Travis Grant and Kirton have one point each. This section is being played as a round-robin.

The chess event concludes this Sunday with games at 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m.

While English grandmaster Nigel Short, the Director for Chess Development in the world governing body of chess, FIDE was in Barbados on a courtesy visit, he took part in several chess playing activities. These included a simultaneous exhibition against several of Barbados’s top junior players, but also, he partook in a grandmaster blitz chess challenge tournament, where he played against  nine of Barbados’s top ranked players.

A blitz event is where the players each have a limited amount of time to complete their moves, and a game will are completed in less than 15 minutes. The action is fast and furious and is akin to T-20 cricket.

In the event, GM Short lined up against some of the top players from Barbados including current National champion FIDE master Martyn Del Castilho, former champions international master Terry Farley and FIDE master Dr. Philip Corbin along with the like of national representatives Kemp Lynch, Emar Edwards and Justin Parsons.

Short however, showed why he was once a challenger to the great Garry Kasparov’s title and was able to defeat all his opponents to finish on 9 points from his 9 games.

After 4 of the 9 rounds were completed, it was GM Short sharing the lead with Terry Farley as both players had won their previous matches. In this pivotal matchup of the leaders, Short playing with the white pieces, was however able to capture an early positional advantage and duly went on to win the game. Short then showed great competence in winning the remainder of his games, including a tricky last round one against Dr. Philip Corbin.

Two players finished the event in joint second place. These were Terry Farley and Justin Parsons. Both players finished with 7 ½ points from their 9 games having both lost to grandmaster Short and drawing with each other. Kemp Lynch finished on 5 points to finish in 4th spot, while Emar Edwards scored 4 ½ points to round out the top 5 finishers.

It was a memorable experience for the local players to play against such an esteemed player, who in his prime would have been in the top 10 players on the official rating list. I am sure that they would have benefited from his post analysis and anecdotes from the games.

After 4 of the 9 rounds of the 2025 National Female chess championship have been officially completed, the two top seeds in the event woman candidate master Chanon Reifer-Belle and woman FIDE master Hannah Wilson share the lead with 3 points.

Having only played 3 games so far, have looked the clear favorites for the title and they have both so far lived up to their billing.

Wilson, the defending champion, won her last game by default from Kayla Culpepper while Reifer-Belle was given a scare by the ever-improving Leshay Springer. Reifer-Belle had initially gained the advantage in the middle game by winning a piece, but then she allowed a tactical shot by Springer which brought back parity to the game. However, Springer went astray in the end game and Reifer-Belle was able to convert the point. Springer thus now sits in clear third spot with 2 ½ points but having played one more game than the two co-leaders.

Janiyah Browne and Sameera Jaikaran share 4th spot with two points in the 10-player field. In their latest matches, Browne won against Laura Nicholls, while Jaikaran defeated Daisha Rose Parris. The other match in the round saw Gaybrianna Moore defeat Jaeda Herbert.

When the action continues this weekend at the Liberal Arts Gallery, Barbados Community College, it will be Reifer-Belle and Wilson who would be looking to stamp their name on the winner’s trophy.

While Chanon is pushing to win her first female championship, her younger brother Chaz Reifer- Belle, the current Barbados Under 12 Open champion is participating in the Open section of the 2025 FIDE World Cadet Under 12 championships being played in Almaty, Kazakhstan over the next two weeks. Unfortunately, Chaz lost his first game against Nikolay Gladchenko of Russia. This section of the tournament has 173 players from about 80 countries. Chaz will be seeking to improve his rating going into the event as one of the lower rated players. The Cadet championships have young players participating in the Under 8, 10 and 12 age categories in both open and female section

The Barbados Chess Federation’s National Open and Female chess championships began this weekend at the Visual Arts Gallery, Barbados Community College, Howells X Road, St. Michael in earnest.Both events are being played as 10- player round robin events, that is where each player will get to play with each of the other ones in the tournament for a maximum of 9 games.Both defending champions, FIDE master Martyn Del Castilho and woman FIDE master Hannah Wilson are looking to repeat as champions but will face stiff and determined challenges from several persons in their respective events.In the Open section first round, Del Castilho started his defense confidently as he defeated the number two seed in the event Emar Edwards. Edwards was holding the position, but a simple one move blunder allowed Del Castilho to win a piece which he duly converted this advantage into victory. It continued a bad week for the ace road tennis player.Justin Kirton showed glimpses of his form as a junior player some time ago as he masterfully outplayed the current Under 16 champion Noah Clarke.

An upset occurred when junior player Mileke Sinckler in his first national finals defeated the higher rated Justin Parsons. FIDE master Philip Corbin got his umpteenth national finals off to a bright start with a victory over Boris Thompson while Ronaldo Rochester was able to defeat the young upstart, Jeremiah Farley also in his first national finals.In the Female section, Wilson set the tone for her event when she quickly defeated Laura Nicholls in round one. Out of a fiery opening, Wilson was able to tactically out- duel Nicholls which led to Nicholls losing several pieces and eventually the game. The next result saw Kayla Culpepper winning from Janiyah Browne. Culpepper was able to conjure up an attack in the middle game which eventually led to Browne being checkmated.

Gaybrianna Moore and Leshay Springer battled to a long hard draw, while the game between Daesha Rose Parris and Jaeda Herbert was postponed.Other results in the round saw woman candidate master Chanon Reifer-Belle defeat Sameera Jaikaran in a workwoman like fashion.The chess action will continue this Sunday at the Barbados Community College with matches being played at 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. respectively.