Global Courant 2023-04-10 21:37:05
Queen’s College ‘A’ team won the Under 20 division of the recently concluded Secondary Interschool Chess Championship.
The formidable team—led by three women who are former or current Women’s Olympiad team members—of Hannah Wilson, Vanessa Greenidge, and Chanon Reifer-Belle; delivered an outstanding performance along with Louis Wilson and Kimahri Holder, winning their six games and scoring a total of 59 points.
Vanessa Greenidge and Chanon Reifer-Belle of Queen’s College on the right and Combermere’s Leshay Springer backing.
The team event is played with five players per team, with each person scoring two points for a win and a total of ten points per match.
Four of the five members won all of their games, while Louis aboard two allowed one tie against Harrison College’s Azaria Johnson. It was during this round three match that Queen’s College faced its toughest test against archrival Harrison College, who had a lineup that included Yeshua Hill, Azaria Johnson, Melvin Terence, Keon Lashley and Jaydn Gill. These players had experience playing for Barbados at the CARIFTA level and had to pass a tough exam for Queen’s.
However, the Harrison team started the game with only four players out of five, as they had no player for board five. On board three, Vanessa Greenidge got a clear advantage in the opening, which she eventually pushed through. Hill on board succumbed to Hannah Wilson; Lashley went to Reifer-Belle, and the only person to upset the score was Kolij’s board two player Azaria Johnson who tied with Louis Wilson.
Hannah Wilson vs Nathan Griffith
After that, Queen’s took three more straight wins with the maximum score to emerge as convincing winners. Harrison College was second with 49 points, while Queen’s College ‘B’ was third with 36 points. Queen’s College ‘B’ defeated Combermere ‘A’ 10 – 0 with wins for Nicholas Maxwell, Andrew Greenidge, Jaydn Odle, Makalo Grant and Kyei Hope.
Queen’s College (left) vs. Harrison College (right)
Some players outside the top two teams performed creditably, including Combermere ‘A’ board one player Nathan Griffith; Queen’s College ‘B’ team pair Nicholas Maxwell and Makalo Grant won four of their six games. (PR)
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