Orlando Husbands did his country, his school and himself proud when he captured gold in the recently concluded Central American And Caribbean Youth Chess Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Husbands, of The Lodge School, bounced back from a Round 6 loss to capture gold in the Under-14 division by winning his final game against Puerto Rico’s Luis Sosa Pacheco.
Bryan Prescod also finished strongly, defeating Puerto Rico’s Alejandro Flores to capture bronze.
Allon Richards had to settle for fourth place despite a strong showing in the latter rounds – which included handing Husbands his only defeat of the tournament – and an impressive final-round victory over Trinidad’s Alex Walcott.
Kemp Lynch of Garrison School, the current national Under-20 champion, narrowly missed out on the medals in the Under-16 section when he was held to a draw in the final round by Orlando Gonzalez of Puerto Rico.
In the Under-12 section, Yu Tien Poon finished on 5.5 points to gain the bronze medal behind Trinidad’s Joshua Johnson and gold medallist Juan Marquez of Venezuela.
Poon lost to Johnson in Round 5, but rebounded to beat Puerto Rico’s Christopher Quintana in Round 6 and Colombia’s Sebastian Cortez in Round 7.
Rohan Waithe, president of the Barbados Chess Federation, said chess in Barbados was progressing well with this crop of juniors and he thanked coaches Terry Farley, Dirk Austin and Dr David Jordan for their outstanding work in preparing the team.
He added that the federation intended to get Under-10s, Under-8s and more girls involved in chess. (PR/SAT)
