Della Marie Walcott, student of Maria Regina Grade School, brings home a gold medal from the Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess Championships which ended on Tuesday in Puerto Rico. Walcott, one of the country’s promising young chess players, finished the five rounds of the Girls’ Under-10 section with a perfect score, leading second-placed Angelica Cortes of Colombia by 1.5 points. Walcott topped a field of six players including her teammate Amba De Silva who took fourth place on two points. Her “golden” performance is all the more impressive following the Silver Medal which she won at the CAC championships in 2009. Last year Walcott emerged at the top of her group by winning the T&T Under-10 national girls championship.
Other members of T&T’s contingent at this open international tournament featured prominently among the top places. Joshua Johnson, Boys Under-12 national champion, was unlucky not to repeat the performance which won him a gold medal at the CAC two years ago. Johnson, on six, finished just half a point behind winner Juan Marquez of Venezuela in the Boys Under-12 division which attracted a total of 16 players. lpacino Smith took third place among the 12 players who contested the Boys Under-18 division. Smith finished the seven-round event on four and a half, one point behind the winner WFM Jo Ann Alvarez of Puerto Rico. Smith’s younger brother, Vandorf, placed ninth in the Boys Under-16 section which included 15 participants.
In the Boys Under-8 category, Sean Yearwood scored five out of seven to place third among eight players. Winner of this group was Christopher Vazquez with a perfect score of seven. Among T&T’s girls, Gabriela Johnson, had the best performance. She scored three out of five points to place second to Danitza Vazquez of Puerto Rico in the Girls Under12 section with five players contesting. Najarah Rahaman finished on four to place fourth among the eight contestants in the Girls Under-14 group. From their consistently noteworthy results in this open CAC championships, it is important to note that young players from the two Caribbean countries, T&T and Barbados, have shown they are strong enough to hold their own among their counterparts in the countries of Central America, including Colombia and Vene.
The Barbadians dominated the Boys Under-14 category taking first, third and fourth places. Orlando Husbands won gold when he topped the 14-player group on five and a half points, edging out Venezuelan Alejandro Uzcategul on the tie-breaker. Bryan Prescod and Arthur Richards were third and fourth respectively, both scoring four and a half points. Kemp Lynch, on four and a half, was fourth among the 15 Under-16 Boys while Bryan Prescod and Atlon Richards, both on four and a half, placed third and fourth in the Under-14 group which drew a total of 14 players. Among the 16 Under-12s, Yu Tien Poon placed third, scoring five and a half, one point behind the winner, Juan Marquez of Venezuela.
Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By Carl Jacobs