Veteran?Othneil Harewood held on to win the second qualifier for the National Chess Championship after the final round was played last Wednesday at the Bridgetown Chess Centre.
Othneil Harewood won on a tie-break from The Lodge School’s Jerome Harewood after both players finished on seven points out of a possible nine.
Othneil went into the last round just a point ahead of Jakeel Harewood but faltered badly as he went under to Jerome’s schoolmate, Bryan Prescod.
Jakeel sensed an opportunity to catch the clear leader and duly dispatched Michael Barker in a tense end game to secure a joint top place standing. However Jerome still had to settle for second place on the tie-breaker even though he had defeated Othneil in Round 7.
In clear third spot was Prescod, who finished on 6½ points as he showed great persevereance and determination, battling through illness for most of the tournament.
Finishing in fourth and fifth spots respectively were Lawrence Depradine and Steven Lucas, with both players amassing six points. In the last round, Depradine defeated Jerome’s sibling Jakeel, while Lucas won against Asabi Layne.
Top-rated female Corinne Howard, Michael Barker, national under-12 Kyle Sandiford of Harrison College and Christopher Boyce were in a group of players who followed closely on 5½ points.
Other last round winners included Mark Lowe, Donna Murray, Justin Maloney and Akil Bennett, while Nicollo Walrond and Nellon Collymore fought to a tame draw.
The top five players in this qualifier, Othneil Harewood, Jerome Harewood, Prescod, Depradine and Lucas will now move forward to join the top five from the first qualifier, the reigning national champion Martyn Del Castilho and one other qualifier in the finals to be played in October. (PR/EZS)