Rochester claims Dr Philip Corbin Chess crown

Ronaldo Rochester emerged as champion of the Dr Philip Corbin Open Chess Tournament, which concluded recently at the headquarters of the Barbados Football Association. Rochester entered the final round with 5.5 points, holding a half-point advantage over Justin Kirton, while Julissa Figueroa was another half-point behind Kirton on 4.5. At least five other players in the 28-player field had four points and, with the right permutations of results, still had a slight chance to qualify if they placed in the top three finishers. In the final round, however, the three leaders would do enough to maintain these current positions as their final ones. Julissa Figueroa finished third in the Dr Philip Corbin Open chess event (Photo credit: Kurtis Hinds / Barbados TODAY) Rochester would draw with the black pieces against Charis Stuart, while Figueroa and Kirton would battle to a draw also in their match. These results confirmed Rochester would win the event with six points, while Kirton would finish second on 5.5 points and Figueroa third with five points, ahead of Loki Clarke and Aidan Singh on the tie-break. Clarke and Singh had defeated a higher rated opponent in Mileke Sinckler and Adam Roachford to reach five points. The first three finishers will now join the six who had already qualified along with defending champion Martyn Del-Castilho, to contest the finals of the championship, which begins on August 21 at the Fine Arts Gallery of the Barbados Community College. Figueroa, will be the only female player who has qualified for the National Open Championship in the last few years. In the novice section of the event, Kevin St Hill prevailed with an impressive 6.5 points from his seven games, while Tanish Chaturvedi was second on six points and Liam Martin third on four. (KH/KD) The post Rochester claims Dr Philip Corbin Chess crown appeared first on Barbados Today.