BARBADIAN Orlando Husbands bounced back from the disappointment of an alleged physical attack to win the Under-20 division of the Caribbean Chess Carnival on Wednesday.
Husbands clinched the title after beating front-runner Joshua Johnson of Trinidad and Tobago in a tense finish to the tournament at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.
The decisive match ended with less than a minute left on both players’ clocks.
Husbands’ victory carried him to five-and-a-half points, the same as Jamaican Shreyas Smith and Trinidadian Mahendra Singh but the Barbadian was declared the champion on the fifth stage of the tie-breaker.
Barbados’ other champion Leigh Sandiford, who was assured of the top spot in the Under-10 division ahead of the final day, maintained his perfect record by completing a seventh successive victory with a win against countrymate Yeshua Hill.
Sandiford’s elder brother, Kyle, took second place in the Under-14 section after winning his sixth match.
Barbados narrowly missed out on top three finishes in a very competitive Under-12 division where Azari Gittens and Aaron Haynes were fourth and fifth respectively. Gittens ended with five points, while Gittens finished with four-a-half-points in a division in which just one point separated the first five places.
In the Under-20s, Justin Parsons, Allon Richards and Bryan Prescod, who all had four-a-half points, finished sixth, seventh and eighth respectively after recording victories on the final day.
The Caribbean Chess Carnival, which attracted more than 100 competitors in five categories, was organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Chess Foundation and preceded the Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess Festival, which starts on Friday. (HG)
Please see more in Thursday’s DAILY NATION.
