Husbands closes in on podium

FIDE MASTER Orlando Husbands has put himself in for a podium finish in the Under-18 age category going into the final round of the Pan American Youth Chess Championships in Cali, Colombia.

Husbands, the reigning CARIFTA Under-20 champion, is in third place on six points, behind Peru’s Fide Master Diego Cuellar on 6.5 points and current tournament leader Colombia’s Guillermo Luis Blandon on seven points.

In the eight rounds played so far, Husbands recorded five wins, two draws and one loss against the tournament leader. In round 4 he held the highly rated Cuban FM Marcos Gomez to a draw and in round he had a very impressive win against Argentina’s Tomas Sosa, the tournament’s number 2 seed.

He will face another highly rated player, the tournament’s fifth seed, Peruvian FM Diego Cuellar in a must-win situation to get a podium spot.

Also representing Barbados is FM Yu Tien Poon, currently in 14th place. He had an impressive start but encountered some turbulence in the later rounds.

Barbados is also represented in the Under-10 division by Leigh Sandiford, another talented Barbadian player. He is on four points and a last round win against Colombia’s Eduardo Sauda would put him above 50 per cent and improve his world ranking.  (PR/EZS)