International master Orlando Husbands has won the 2023 National Open Chess Championship by edging out the defending champion Martyn Del Castilho by a half – point after the final rounds of the event were completed over the last weekend at the Coles Building, Bay Street in Bridgetown.

Over a hectic weekend, Husbands racked up four consecutive victories to finish on 8 ½ points from 9. He was impressive in handling the pressure to maintain his slender lead and was only seriously pressed in round 8, when Fide master Dr. Philip Corbin fought valiantly to hold Husbands to a draw but to no avail.

Defending champion Martyn Del Castilho who would have been hoping that Husbands would have dropped at least a half point to give him some opportunity to have a chance to retain the championship he had won last year. However, it was not to be, and even though Del Castilho won all his games, he could only watch in frustration as Husbands held his slender lead to the finish of the event.

Finishing in third spot was Emar Edwards who had a pleasing tournament to finish on 6 ½ points. Edwards known for his road tennis, ballroom dancing and bridge accolades, showed good preparation and determination and exemplified this in his last-round victory over Ronaldo Rochester.

Dr. Philip Corbin after a long absence from a national final, came in 4^th position on 4 ½ points after being held to a draw by current under 16 Central American and Caribbean female champion Hannah Wilson in the final round. Adam Roachford rounded out the top 5 in the 10-player field with four points. He finished with an impressive victory over the higher-rated Lawrence Depradine in the last round. The ten players who qualified for this final, fought tooth and nail and made this event a memorable one for all.

After three of the 9 rounds of the 2023 Barbados national open chess championship finals, defending champion FIDE master Martyn Del Castilho leads with three wins from his three games.

Del Castilho has looked impressive in all his matches so far and his last round victory against Renaldo Rochester showed that it will be very tough to deny Del Castilho retaining his title.

International master Orlando Husbands lies in second place  with two and a half points from three games. Husbands was surprisingly held to a draw by the multi discipline talented Emar Edwards in round two. Edwards, not daunted by the large difference in ratings put down a gutsy effort in which he battled in a long game which went to an end game in which in the final position, Edwards might have held an advantage. Husbands, however, bounced back in round three to convincingly bring down Adam Roachford.

FIDE master Dr. Philp Corbin holds down the third spot currently with two points, having one win and two draws. In his last game, he was held to a draw by Justin Parsons in a very entertaining affair.

Edwards sits in joint fourth position on one and a half points along with the current under 16 Central American and Caribbean(CAC) Under 14 female champion Hannah Wilson, whom he defeated in the last round.

The other result in the round saw current under 14 female CAC bronze medalist Chanon Reifer-Belle hold the higher rated Lawrence Depradine to a draw.

The national final is being played as a 10 player round robin event, where each of the players will have to play all the others. There were three qualifying events and the first three placed players from each of those events would have qualified to play in the finals along with the defending champion from last year. This year the finals is historical in that two females in Wilson and Reifer-Belle have advanced to participate.

Action will continue Thursday evening at 6.00 p.m. at the Coles Building on Bay Street, Bridgetown, before climaxing on the two weekend days. An exciting finish to the event is anticipated.

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Queens College “A” team edged out Queens College “B” team to claim the Under 15 Secondary Interschool chess championship team competition which wrapped up at Crumpton Street recently.

Q.C. “A’’ scored 55 points out of a possible 60 to pip the B team who scored 52 points. The race for the title was always a two-horse race from the start and in round one when the Q.C. “A” team won 6 – 4 from its “B” team, pundits knew it would have been a case of who held their nerves best.

Both teams would have initially fallen behind the Combermere “A” team which won 10 – 0 against its respective “B” team but by round 4, the Q.C. teams had each defeated the Combermere “A” team and were into their two-horse battle.

It was just a case of who would drop those 1 or 2 critical points per match. Q.C. “A” dropped a point in Round 3 as they downed Combermere 9-1. Then Q.C. “B” dropped two points against the same team in Round 4. Both teams then registered 10 – 0 victories in the last two rounds. Q.C. “A’ was able to put their hand on the winners’ cup.

Q.C. A team of Kanye Williams, Eden Gibson, Noah Clarke, Samuel Greenidge and Alexei Frederick can feel proud in their achievements as well as the “B” teams Javier Hoyte, Yhden Layne, Daniel Nurse, Zarek Greaves and Kayode Nurse, who showed they were no “B” team at all.

Finishing in third were the Combermere “A”team of Caleb Latchman, Tedra Johnson, Joanna Hunte, Gavin Beckles and Demar Parris on 40 points, some distance ahead of Lodge, Princess Margaret and the others.

Kolij takes Under 13 Section

In the Under 13 section of the event Harrison College “A” team edged out Queens College “A” team by 2 points, 42 – 40 points, as it came down to one last game which would determine the overall championship and when the last pawn was pushed it was Kolij from Crumpton Street who were celebrating.

In a small field of four teams, it was always neck and neck between the two teams as one team was ahead then the other as they continuously jockeyed for position. The event was set up as a double round robin, where each team would play the other twice with each player playing the white and the black pieces against their stated opponent.

After the first day, Q.C. “A” was one point ahead of Harrison 22 points to 21 points. In their first head-to-head clash, the two teams had drawn with Harrisons having victories to Mileke Sinckler and Nathan Reid, for Queens Liam Valdes-Desroachers and Liam Yearwood reciprocated while Aaron Jaikaran and Derick Boyce drew on the top board.

By round five, Q.C. “A” had stretched the lead to two points and the final round results would determine the championship. Harrison College was matched against Queens College “C”, while the Queens College “A” and “B” team would clash. Knowing the points situation, one might have been a little suspect of the result, but young children have no such predispositions.

Harrison College defeated Queens “C” 8 – 2, but lo and behold Queens “B” upset their “A” team 6 – 4, with wins by Savion Little, Amari Blackett and Jeovani Pennegan, while Desroachers and Yearwood won for Q.C. “A”.

The final top positions came down to one game, a clash between Naomi Lewis of Harrison College and Darya Samaroo of Queens “C”. In a game which went on ways after all the others were finished, the two young ladies gave it their all Samaroo knew a win would allow her “A” team compatriots at least a tie of the championship, while Lewis knew a win by her would mean Kolij’s glory. It was Lewis who won out in the endgame and with that she crowned herself and school in glory.

Kolij’s victory was on the back of their top three boards as Aaron Jaikaran and Nathan Reid score 5 wins and one draw from their 6 games, but Mileke Sinkler was excellent and won all his games in impressive fashion.

It was good to see at least a third of the government Secondary school turning out over the three age categories in the first interschool team event in three years. Next year hopefully more schools will return to the fold.

Hannah Wilson returned to her winning ways as she slammed the field to capture the female Under 18 chess championship over the last weekend.

Wilsons performance was even more impressive as the female and open section of the event were combined due to undersubscription in the female section and she still won all her matches to finish ahead of all in the 16-player field.

Wilson was out of the blocks early and by the end of round 3, she was the sole leader with 3 wins. Its then Wilson went into overdrive and in the next three matches she first defeated Alesha Lovell, the third seed, after which she took down Aaron Jaikaran, the reigning Under 13 champion.

In Wilson’s final game she face Chanon Reifer Belle, who has defeated Wilson recently and who was looking to repeat this victory to at least catch up to Wilson, who was now a point ahead. However, a determined Wilson played a classic game and allowed her opponent no chance of a successive victory. When the dust had cleared Wilson strove to victory to clinch the female championship.

Finishing in second was Alesha Lovell, who had a wonderful tournament, only losing to the eventual winner but drawing two games as well with the highly touted Jaikaran and Reifer-Belle. Reifer- Belle also finished on 4 points but finished third on the tie-break.

In the Open section, three players ended tied on four points. These were Jaikaran and the brother Loki and Noah Clarke. Noah’s performance was impressive as he won his last four games after missing the first two, and when he defeated the 4^th ranked player Derick Boyce in the last round, that would guarantee his progression to a playoff for the championship. The three top male players will meet in a playoff at a later date to determine the champion.

Over the last weekend Barbados crowned a new Under 12 Open chess champion in the form of the enthusiastic Jonathan Griffith of Gordon Walters Primary.

Griffith put in an impressive second day performance to win all three of his games and finish in sole first with 5 ½ points from a possible 6. Griffith started the day in joint fourth place but defeated Janiyah Browne in the round four, to move in to second behind the then unbeaten leader Aaron Jaikaran of Harrison College. In round 5, in the top of the table clash, many would have fancied Jaikaran the current Under 13 champion, would have triumphed over his slightly lesser experienced opponent, but Griffith was unyielding in his approach and eventually it was Jaikaran who succumbed to the pressure. He dropped a piece at a critical stage of the game, to which Griffith capitalized and eventually won the game. Griffith then had to just stay the course in his final round game against Savion Little and when he won this game, no one could control the ecstatic emotions of Griffith as he had now captured his first age category championship win.

Jaikaraon edged out Andrew Tash Turton into second place on five points. Jaikaran had defeated Chaz Reifer-Belle and Tash Turton had won from Xavi Armstrong in the last round. Little led a cadre of players on 4 points to share 4^th to 9^th which also included Jayden Howell, Nathan Simmons-Patterson, Jaeda Herbert and Scott Johnson.

Herbert wins Girls Under 12

With a commendable four points Jaeda Herbert captured the girls Under 12 Championship to also capture the championship. The females participated in the Open section as they were undersubscribed but Jaeda showed she was not disadvantaged as she recorded 4 points to finish in the top third of the 28 player field. Her last round victory against Charis Stuart was enough to propel her into sole first. Finishing in second place was Janiyah Browne and Kayla Culpepper in third. Both players finished on three points.

Wilson and Moore capture Under 20 Titles

At the other end of the age spectrum, Louis Wilson on Queens College won the Under 20 Open championship with 5 ½ points from 6 games having only conceded a draw to the eventual girls champion Gaybrianna Moore of Community College. In a small field both sexes competed together, and Jamani Bowen finished second in the Open section with 3 points ahead of Shamar McClean (third) and Christian Stuart-jackman on tie-break. Analissa Arjune finished second in the girls’ section.