Field for Barbados Championship set. . . battle begins on August 15th!

Barbados

The field for the 2001 Barbados National Chess Championship is set and it promises to be the strongest ever! Allen Herbert of the Barbados Chess Federation (BCF) reports that the 2nd qualifier to determine the last six players saw six players emerging from the pack to vie for the coveted title. One of the new faces will be FM Ricardo Szmetan, an Argentinean native making his debut after winning the 2nd qualifier. The 9-round round robin tournament will start on August 15th and last until September 8th.

In the 2nd qualifier, things immediately became more interesting with the addition to FM Szmetan. The veteran FM scored a blistering 7/8 to edge Martin Hall who had 6½ points. Seven-time champion FM Philip Corbin tallied 6 points and is sure to be one of the favorites to win the national crown. Rounding out the qualifiers were Neil Yarde, Mark Alleyne, and Justin Kirton, each scoring 5½ points. Along with the defending national champion, FM Kevin Denny, these six players will join the players from the 1st qualifier: NM Delisle Warner, Dirk Austin, Junior Taitt, Kelvin Daniel and Kevin Greenidge. Mr. Herbert states that will be the strongest championship ever and makes the following notes:

i) 7 of 12 are FIDE rated
ii) 3 are FIDE Masters (Denny, Corbin, Szmetan)
iii) 1 is a Barbados National Master (Warner)
iv) 3 are juniors (Kirton, Alleyne, Taitt)
v) 3 are former national champions (Denny, Corbin, Warner)
vi) 4 are making their debut at the National Championships (Yarde, Kirton, Alleyne, Szmetan)
vii) 6 have represented Barbados at least one World Chess Olympiad (Denny, Corbin, Warner, Daniel, Austin, Taitt)
viii) Austin, Denny & Greenidge are coming off a very successful Trinidad Open which Austin won, Denny tied for 2 and Greenidge tied for 3.
ix) Kirton, Barbados Under 16 & 20 champion, is coming off a very successful Curacao Junior International which he just won to become the 1st Barbadian junior to win the junior section. The web site for the tournament is www.curacao.com/chess.

Other links

2nd Qualifier results

Pairings for the Barbados National Championship

Barbados Chess Federation

Posted by The Chess Drum: 3 August 2001