Barbadians lead chess tournament

Round 5 encounters

Barbadian players Askari Elson and Murali Areti are the new leaders after round 5 of the Sagicor Open junior championship was played yesterday at the NUPW headquarters.

Askari took the lead after he defeated the Jamaica national junior champion Alain Morais. In this game Askari held a slight advantage in the opening and the late middlegame and as the game progress it appeared as  if the game was heading for a likely draw, going into the endgame,  but coming down to the last remaining 5 minutes of play Morais blundered under time pressure. Askari with quick precision capitalized on this error and proceeded  to blitz out the last remaining moves necessary to win the game.

On board two Murali Areti outplayed fellow Barbadian player Craig Clermond in a quiet encounter.

In other matches Darren Wisdom of Jamaica overcame Marcus Joseph of Trinidad and on board 4 Defending champion Allan Munroe regain his footing after he won against Mario Butcher.

Matches to come

With just three more rounds to go an a number of players trailing the leaders the showdown on board 1 between  Barbadian player Murali Areti and Askari Elson will no doubt be the deciding game of the tournament.

Other games that will feature prominently are the boards 2 and 3 encounters. Where Darren Wisdom of Jamaica will take on Avinash Wahi from Surinam and Martyn Del Castiloh will defend with the black pieces against Alain Morais.