Vanessa Greenidge and Kyle Sandiford are Barbados’ best medal hopes heading into the final day of the 7th Carifta Chess Championships in Suriname.
On a day that Barbados put in a modest showing in the evening session, Greenidge was the standout performer with two victories on Sunday at the Ministry of Finance Building in Paramaribo.
Those wins pushed her into a clear second place in the girls’ Under-16 category after the sixth and penultimate round of matches. After losing to front-runner, Jamaican Adani Clarke in the evening session on Saturday, Greenidge defeated Johmoi Blake to avenge a defeat she suffered against the Jamaican last year that saw her lose out on the gold medal on the tie-break in the Under-12 division.
It was followed by another win against Jamila Sadiek of Suriname in the sixth round that pushed her to five points, one behind Clarke and one more than Suriname’s Woman FIDE Master, Catherine Kaslan, her opponent in the final round of games on Monday.
Sandiford also bounced back from a four-hour defeat to top ranked Trinidadian Alan-Safar Ramoutar on Saturday to beat fellow Barbadian Taiye Estwick before drawing with Ethan Croeze of Aruba. It left him in third place in the boys’ Under-16 section but he was one of seven players on four and a half points.
Barbados’ other outstanding performer was eight-year-old Hannah Wilson, who rebounded from two defeats on Saturday to register two wins and move to four points, placing her seventh in the girls’ Under-12 category.
While Barbados held their own in the morning session with 11 wins, nine defeats and two draws, they stumbled in the evening with five victories, 12 losses and five draws.
Leigh Sandiford and Jaydn Gill, two unbeaten medal contenders after the fourth round, slipped down the table in their categories after disappointing results.
Sandiford lost both his Under-16 games to lower ranked opponents from Suriname, while Gill, competing in Under-12, went down to top ranked Jamaican Jaden Shaw before drawing with teammate Rory Prescod. Gill, Prescod and Dominic Jackman, who won his morning game before losing to Shaw, will go into the final round on four points.
Three Under-16s – Aaron Haynes, Taiye Estwick and Pritika Kandamaran will also start the last round on four points. (BCF)