Shane Maughn of Queen’s College is the new Under-16 chess champion of Barbados.
He did this when he edged out top seed Kyle Sandiford of Harrison College on tie-break last weekend at The St Michael School.
They each accumulated five points out of a possible six with both players drawing two games, including one against each other.
Going into the final round, Maughn and Sandiford were a half point ahead of the rest of the field and they both knew they held their fate in their own hands. Maughn faced a former Under-10 champion, Pritika Kandamaran of “Kolij”, while Sandiford faced off against the ever improving Kiarra Eversley.
Maughn was swift in his victory over Kandamaran and put immediate pressure on Sandiford. The latter fought hard and managed to wear down a plucky Eversley to join Maughn on five points. However, his efforts fell painstakingly short as Maughn won by a whisker on the tie-break.
Finishing in third spot was Leigh Sandiford, Kyle’s younger sibling and the current Under-12 champion. Leigh defeated Taiye Estwick in the last round to lift himself up to third spot. Kandamaran finished fourth.
Other final-round results saw victories for early leader Aaron Haynes, Yeshua Hill, Joshua Burke, Gaybrianna Moore and Tyson Holder.
The next event on the Barbados Chess Federation’s calendar is the Under-8, Under-12 and Under-18 championships to be played on Saturday and Sunday at The St Michael School starting at 9 a.m. daily. (PR/EZS)