THE 2016 CARIFTA Chess title looks likely to end up where it originated – in Barbados.
Barbados are well poised to regain the championships and become the first non-host country to win the title after more strong performances put them at the top of the table at the end of the sixth and penultimate round of games in St Croix on Sunday.
Based on provisional points that are awarded to both boys and girls for the first five places in the three age-groups, Barbados, spearheaded by their Under-20 boys, had accumulated 31 points in the fifth annual championships at the Divi Carina Bay Hotel.
The Bajans were some distance ahead of their nearest challengers, Aruba, who had 14 points.
Orlando Husbands was confirmed as the first gold medallist of the championships after sweeping to two more victories and completing his sixth successive win in the Under-20 division where fellow Barbadians Yu Tien Poon and Bryan Prescod look set to win silver and bronze respectively.
Four other Barbadians – Shane Maughn, Nitin Mahtani, Segan Sandiford and Azaria Johnson – were in contention for gold medals in very close contests among the Under-16s and Under-12s ahead of the seventh and final round of games on Monday morning.
It was another day of smooth sailing for Husbands who defeated two female opponents to maintain his 100 per cent winning record and move to six points.
Poon won against Prescod in the morning but had to settle for a draw against Mark Bueno of Aruba in the evening, moving him to four-and-a-half points, a half-point more than third-placed Prescod, who won his evening game.
On a day in which Barbados matched their 12 victories of the previous day, there was plenty of intrigue among both boys and girls in the Under-16 and Under-12 categories.
Among the Under-16 boys, Queen’s College student Shane Maughn scored a double, including a victory in the evening against fellow Barbadian Nitin Mahtani, a student of Harrison College who had played to a draw in the morning against Trinidadian Alan-Safar Ramatour.
The results left Ramatour at the top of the table on five points, one more than three players, including Maughn and Mahtani.
It was just as tight among the Under-16 girls with Segan Sandiford among three players at the top with four points and fellow Queen’s College student Kiara Eversley on three points. Both Sandiford and Eversley won one match and lost the other on the day.
Barbadian Azaria Johnson is also battling for gold in the girls’ Under-12 category despite losing both of her matches on Sunday.
Johnson, a student of Charles F Broome, is one of five players with three points and is currently in second place on the tie-breaker.
The biggest disappointment for Barbados was another defeat for Leigh Sandiford that ensured he will not repeat as the boys’ Under-12 gold medallist.
Sandiford kept alive his hopes with a victory in the morning but lost to Imaan Kalidjo of Suriname in the evening, leaving him in seventh place on three-and-a-half points, the same as teammate Yeshua Hill, who enjoyed a satisfying day by winning both of his games. (HG)