Barbados hosts Heroes Day Cup

National Champion, FIDE Master Delisle Warner scored a crucial 5th round win, against long time rival International Master Kevin Denny, to keep alive his chances of making an International Master Norm when play continued in the Digicel RBTT Heroes Day Cup at the Bridgetown Chess Centre in Cavans Lane.

Warner, who on many occasions in the past came up with the short end of the against Denny, put in a determined effort to fend off Denny’s attack and secure the vital point to push him to 3½ points. He now needs 2½ points from his remaining 4 matches to earn his first International Master Norm.

A pensive Delisle Warner, right, contemplating Kevin Denny next move
in their crucial 5th round encounter in the Digicel Heroes Day Masters Cup

US Grandmaster Julio Becerra, himself seeking a major personal milestone of achieving a 2600 FIDE Rating, continued in his uncompromising form with his 5th straight win of the tournament this time against FIDE Master Terry Farley of Barbados.

Becerra, on 5 points, tops the Digicel Masters standings followed by English Grandmaster Keith Arkell on 4 points.

FIDE Master Mauricio Uribe of Colombia, who seeking his 3rd and final International Master Norm to qualify for the international Master Title, stayed on track with a win over Trinidad & Tobago National Champion Ryan Harper.

Uribe joins Delisle Warner and International Master Augusto Moran on 3½ points to share 3rd spot.

The rest of the field have fallen a considerable distance behind the top group with Bengt Hammar and Terry Farley on 1½ points for joint 6th place, and Ryan Harper and Kevin Denny sharing 8th with 1 point. Dr. Philip Corbin who lost his 5th round match to Augusto Moran bottoms the standing on a ½ point.

Roger Matoewi, National Champion of Suriname
Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

In the RBTT Candidates Section, Surinam National Champion and section top seed Candidate Master Roger Matoewi shares the leader board with the veteran of local chess Othneil Harewood.

Matoewi and Harewood repelled the advances of Wendell Meusa and Cleveston Ifill respectively to move to 4 points.

Former Under-16 Junior Champion Alex Jackman of Lester Vaughn is in 3rd position with 3½ points having defeated Dwayne Gikles.

Meusa, Ifill and Gilles Suez Panama are tied for 4th place with 3 points followed by another three way tie between Roberto Castillo of Cuba, Nick Faulks of Bermuda and Barbados Community College student Diego Thompson on 2½ points.

Play continues on Thursday May 1st at 9:00 a.m. 4:30 p.m. at the Bridgetown Chess Centre in Bridge House Cavans Lane, Bridgetown. Admission to the public is free.

FIDE Master Mauricio Uribe of Colombia inched closer to the qualification mark for his 3rd and final International Master Norm when he drew his 6th and 7th round matches against FIDE Master Terry Farley of Barbados and US Grandmaster Julio Becerra in the Digicel RBTT Heroes Day Cup being played at the Bridgetown Chess Centre in Cavans Lane.

Colombian FIDE Master Mauricio Uribe
Photo courtesy of Barbados Chess Federation.

Uribe, on 4½ points, will now need to score 1½ points from his 2 remaining matches to earn the norm and create history by becoming the first player to qualify for the International Master Title on Bajan soil. However standing in his path will be Swedish FIDE Master Bengt Hammar and International Master Kevin Denny, both of whom will be in no mood to release the points without a serious fight.

National Champion FIDE Master Delisle Warner, seeking his 1st Norm, saw his hopes dashed when he loss both his games against International Master Augusto Moran of Ecuador and FIDE Master Dr. Philip Corbin.

Warner, playing with the advantage of the white pieces against Moran never got into the game and simply fell apart from the get go. His match against Corbin fared no better as Corbin, desperate to score his first win of the tournament, out played the hapless Warner in his pet French Defense.

With two rounds to go, the standings see Grandmaster Beccera top of the tables with 6 ½ points thanks to a surgical dissection of Dr. Cobin’s pet opening the Elephant Gambit in round six.

Corbin, a devote of the Elephant, has continued to persist with this once obscure opening even though its surprise value has all but disappeared primarily due to the body of his games which are well published internationally.

Becerra clearly looks favoured to take the 2008 Digicel Heroes Day Masters Cup. English Grandmaster Keith Arkell remains in 2nd position on 5½ points after to marathon matches; a hard fought 6th round win against International Master Kevin Denny and a just as difficult draw against Moran of Ecuador.

GM Julio Becerra
Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

Moran retains the 3rd position with 5 points and Uribe 4th with 4 ½. Warner in spite of his two consecutive losses is 5th with 3½.

Trinidad & Tobago National Champion FIDE Master Ryan Harper found some rear success in round six when he defeated Swedish FIDE Master Bengt Hammar. An epic battle against Denny in round seven ended in a draw, moving him to 6th place tie with FIDE Master Terry Farley on 2 ½ points.

Bengt Hammar, on 2 points, drops to 8th spot while Denny and Corbin, with only 1½ points each, jointly bring up the rear.

In the RBTT Candidates Section, Surinam National Champion and top seed Candidate Master Roger Matoewi continued to share the leader board with the veteran of local chess Othneil Harewood.

Matoewi won his 6th round against former Barbados Under-20 Champion Wendell Meusa and was gifted the 7th round when Roberto Castillo of Cuba failed to show for the match.

Harewood on the other had earned had to earn both of his victories two of Barbados’ top junior players Former Under-16 Junior Champion Alex Jackman of Lester Vaughn and Akeen Cox of Combermere.

Matoewi and Harewood, who previously played each other in round three, now have 6 points and will have to hope that either drops a point in the final two matches if they are to avoid a tie for 1st place.

Wendell Mesua, Alex Jackman and Nick Faulks of Bermuda jointly share in 3rd position in the RBTT Candidates with a distant 4 ½ points while Giles Suez Panama and Dwayne Gilkes are 6th with 4 points.