Bang-up finish in prospect at 2016 Digicel President’s Invitational Chess tourney
After eight rounds of the 2016 edition of the prestigious Jamaica Chess Federation (JCF) Digicel President’s Invitational Chess tournament, the competition is intriguingly poised with a bang-up finish in the making.
With two-thirds of the competition over, the top six players in the standings are separated by a mere one-half point.
After racing to a magnificent 4-0 start to take the early lead after four rounds, National Master ‘NM’ Daren Wisdom, the defending champion, was brought crashing to earth as he was checkmated in 29 moves by JCF President Ian Wilkinson in the fifth round that was played last Saturday at the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) offices.
In other key results between rounds five and eight of the competition, Wisdom also lost to NM Paul Brooks and NM Peter Thomas in rounds six and seven, respectively; Lucien Rowe defeated Kevin Merritt in round seven; in round eight Wisdom defeated Michael Diedrick to stop the haemorrhaging and Merritt rebounded with a good win over Wilkinson, thereby exacting revenge for his defeat in the 2016 Jamaica Chess Championship.
The standings show that Rowe, Brooks and Thomas lead the event with 5 1/2 points. Curiously, three players are a mere one-half point behind on 5 points — Merritt, Wilkinson and Wisdom. The only other person with a remote chance of winning the event, depending on other results, is Kevron Campbell, who is in clear seventh place on 4 1/2 points.
The following players complete the standings: Michael Diedrick on 3 1/2; Woman Candidate Master Ariel Barrett on three; Andre Soares and Terence Lindo on two each, and Miguel Asher on one and half points.
Round nine continues at the JOA today at 9:00 am with the following games: Wilkinson vs Rowe; Brooks vs Merritt; Thomas vs Lindo; Diedrick vs Soares; Asher vs Wisdom and Barrett vs Campbell. Players with the white pieces are named first.
The tournament started on Saturday, April 9, 2016 and will end tomorrow. It is a round robin event that is being played at the JOA, save for rounds three and four which were played on Sunday, April 10 at Shirley Retreat Hotel. It is to be played over 11 rounds, each, player facing the other at a time control of game in 90 minutes, with increments of 30 seconds per move from the first move.
Sponsors are Digicel, Kasparov Chess Foundation, the JOA and Magnificent Chess Foundation.
