The two lowest rated players in the Masters section scored victories over higher ranked opponents in the fourth round of games in the Barbados Chess Federation’s Heroes Day Cup on Sunday.
2017 Rapid champion Justin Blackman upstaged Barbados’ highest rated player, International Master Orlando Husbands, while Candidate Master Bryan Prescod, the lowest ranked competitor in the ten-man field, defeated six-time national champion Martyn Del Castilho when the action continued at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex.
In the process, Blackman and Prescod moved into mid-table positions on two points each as the nine-round competition approached the half-way stage.
Cuban International Master Humberto Blanco and American FIDE Master Levy Rozman were the leaders on three and a half from a maximum four points, with defending champion and International Master Raven Sturt, of the United States, in third on two and a half points.
Blanco, who won his first three games, had his winning streak broken when he played to a draw against Trinidadian FIDE Master Joshua Johnson, who occupied fourth place with two and a half points.
Prescod, a two-time Carifta Under-20 bronze medallist, and Blackman, who only returned to local chess last year after studies in the United States, were in fifth and sixth places, respectively, with Husbands in seventh on one and a half points.
In the Candidates section for lower rated players, Trinidadian FIDE Master Kevin Cupid established himself as the leader after winning a top-of-the-table clash with seven-time national champion Dr Philip Corbin to complete his fourth successive victory.
Demetrio Moore was in second place on three and a half points, followed by Corbin, Woman Candidate Master Julissa Figueroa and 79-year-old Anthony Earlam, who were all on three points.
The Masters section, which is offering a top prize of US$800, is being contested over nine rounds, while the Challengers division, which is over eight rounds, has a first prize of US$600.
The tournament is sponsored by the Barbados Olympic Association and the Academy of Sport at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies. (BCF)
