Fide Master Martyn Del Castilho Claims Victory at 2024 Philip Corbin Open Chess Event; Wilson Places 8th in PanAmerican Youth Chess Championship

Fide Master Martyn Del Castilho romped to an emphatic victory in the 2024 Philip Corbin Open chess event over the weekend at the Coles Building, Bridgetown.

Del Castilho won his last three games without much duress to finish unbeaten from seven matches. Finishing in second on 5 ½ points was Kemp Lynch who defeated the 2023 Central American and Caribbean bronze medalist Chanon Reifer-Belle in the last round to ensure that he too would qualify for next month’s national chess championship finals.

However, the highlight of the final round was the near five-hour battle between woman candidate master Julissa Figueroa and Adam Roachford. Roachford had come into the round in joint third position with Reifer-Belle but a loss in this round could see it coming down to a tie-break for the coveted third position, a situation that might not favour Roachford.

Initially it was Roachford who had the ascendancy, and he was able to win a pawn in a complex middle game. However, as the game meandered into the endgame, Figueroa stirred up complications as Roachford had misplaced his rook. To avoid losing it, he had to lose some pawns in the process. With this clear advantage many pundits believed Figueroa would push on to win. She could not find the correct plan and, frustratingly for her, the match petered out to a draw. This result meant Roachford finished third on 4 ½ points to clinch the final berth for the national finals.

Other results saw victories for Lawrence Depradine and Othneil Harewood. The first three finishers qualified for the national finals.

Wilson 8th in PanAm chess

Hannah Wilson finished 8th from 23 players in the Girls Under-16 section of the 2024 PanAmerican Youth Chess Championship in Orlando, Florida last week. Going into the final round against Laura Valentina Padro Useche of Colombia, Wilson could still end in a tie for the second position if she could win the game. She however suffered defeat which led to her finishing 8th overall with 5 points from 9 games. The outstanding Sofia Mayorga Araya of Costa Rica won this section with 8 points.

At a very tough event which saw over 350 players from 28 countries competing in 12 separate sections, 6 male and 6 female. Wilson still did the nation proud as she was the highest-scoring female from the Caribbean, along with Chika Pride (the Bahamas) who was in the Under-14 girls section. Vedant Shetty of St Vincent & the Grenadines was the highest scorer from the region overall with 5 ½ points from his 9 matches. Only these three players managed more than 50% from our Caribbean representatives.