Jerome Harewood of The Lodge School is the champion of the Under-14 section of the Sagicor Open Junior Chess Tournament played recently at the Keith Bourne Complex, Belmont Road, St Michael.In a tumultuous event featuring the best Under-14 players in Barbados along with former Under-12 champion Omari Teka now back home in Grenada, Harewood went to the front very late in the tournament.He took the lead in Round 6 and was able to hold on for a memorable tournament victory.The early leader of the tournament was schoolmate Orlando Husbands who went ahead in Round 3 with a victory over Harewood. However, Husbands succumbed to national Under-14 champion Kemp Lynch of Garrison in Round 4 and the latter was the sole leader.Harewood then played Lynch in Round 5 and even though Lynch was pressing hard, Harewood soaked up the pressure and eventually counter-attacked to create victory. When joint leader Husbands lost in Round 6, and pre-tournament favourite Lynch went down to Harrison College’s Rohansonn Waithe, Harewood was able to clinch consecutive wins in Rounds 6 and 7 to secure the overall tournament victory on six points from seven games.Finishing second was fellow Lodge player Bryan Prescod with five-and-a-half points, while Husbands was third on five points. Lynch and Waithe both had four-and-a-half points, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.The best girl prize went to Lydia Nurse who finished on three points. (PR/SAT)
