Guyana’s Jessica Clementson scored two wins in the girls under-16 category of the annual Sagicor Open Junior Chess Championships hosted by the Barbados Chess Federation (BCF) in Barbados at the St. Leonard’s Boys School Auditorium from June 27–30.
Clementson gained two wins and two draws to finish 13th among the 21 participants in the category.
Meanwhile on the boys’ side of the category, participants at the event Rashad Hussain and Joshua Pedro placed tenth and twelfth respectively of the 26 contestants vying for the win.
The tournament was won by Barbados’ Orlando Husbands, who has a FIDE rating of 1849. According to reports the 14-year-old recorded wins in six of his seven games.
Hussain, a Mae’s Secondary school student, managed four wins and Bishops’ High student, Pedro ended with three wins and two draws.
The players attended the tournament alongside their trainers. All three are trained at the Royal Chess Academy operated by Wendell Meusa, a former national chess champion.
Hussain and Pedro attended the tourney with sponsorship from the BCF.
The Sagicor Barbados Junior Open Chess Championship is a FIDE-sanctioned tournament held annually by the BCF, with players coming from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Martinique.
The tournament featured seven rounds played in three categories – under-12, under-16 and under-20. The players were allotted the standard 1:30 hours for all moves.
The tournament is exclusively sponsored by Sagicor Insurance General. According to reports, this year’s edition was considered a huge success with a total of 71 local and regional juniors taking part.
According to Meusa, the aim of having the students attend the tournament was to gain the experience of playing against some of the Caribbean’s best chess players as well as to have a chance to obtain a FIDE international rating.
