Barbados Women's Chess Champion Named

From the BarbadosAdvocate.com Rashida Corbin!! the new Chess Queen Web Posted - Fri Oct 03 2008 RASHIDA Corbin is the new Barbados ladies national chess champion. She was victorious in the recently concluded CGI/BOA National Chess Championship. Rashida scored an impressive six points out of a possible seven points. She won six games while lsoing one game. Rashida, back from a short lay off from competitive chess, demonstrated her superior theoretical knowledge and easily clinched the title. A former champion and national player since her junior days, Rashida should add a wealth of experience to the ladies squad in training for the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. The defending champion, Corrine Howard, finished in second place on 5 1/2 points ahead on the tie break of Juanita Garnett also on 5 1/2 points. The tournament was keenly contested with Corrine Howard handing Rashida her only loss of the tournament. There was also a major upset in round two when the unheralded Cheri-Ann Parris inflicted a painful defeat on Comarie Mansour. Final standings: Rashida Corbin 6 (no FIDE rating) Corrine Howard 5.5 (no FIDE rating) Juanita Garnett 5.5 (no FIDE rating) Cheri-Ann Paris 4 Comarie Mansour 3 Katrina Blackman 3 Cherise Austin 1 The ladies squad will attend 2 training lectures as part of their preparation for the Olympiad. The first one will be conducted by International Master Kevin Denny tomorrow at 4 p.m. The following Saturday, October 11, at 4 p.m. Fide Master Dr. Philip Corbin will be the presenter. The venue for both seminars is Bridge House, Cavans Lane, The City. The sessions are open to the public at a cost of $10.

Women's Chess in Barbados

From The Barbados Advocate Keen action in ladies' chess Web Posted - Fri Sep 26 2008 DEFENDING ladies chess champion, Corrine Howard, who is looking to make this her third consecutive title, has encountered some early turbulence in the BOA/CGI National Ladies Championship which is being played at Bridge House, Cavans Lane, The City. From the first round the 6 finalists trying to take Corrine's crown showed they meant business. In her round one clash against the experienced Juanita Garnett, the defending champion found herself under tremendous pressure early in the game. However, she put up tough resistance and managed to salvage a draw. Round three, however, proved to be a dramatic round as Cherie-Ann Parris of squash fame defeated the reigning champion in an intense battle. Parris, determined to make up for her round two loss against Comarie Mansour, played aggressively from the start and never relented until she claimed the full point inflicting a rare defeat on the defending Champion. This has left the tournament wide open with only two rounds remaining and the action should be intense this weekend as the players jostle for the top spots. Cherie-Ann Parris on four points, holds a slight 1/2 point lead ahead of Corrine Howard and Juanita Garnett, both on 3 1/2 points. Comarie Mansour and former Ladies Champion Rashida Corbin, who has returned to competitive chess after a few years' break, are both on three points but still have a rescheduled game against each other. This a key game as the winner would join Parris at the top of the standings. Katrina Blackman of Coleridge and Parry has two points and the baby of the competition, 10-year-old Cherise Austin is yet to score, although she has been playing well and missed an opportunity to draw against Mansour in round three. Round six will be played tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Bridge House, Cavans Lane, The City. Entry is free to the public. The action can also be followed on the Federation's website, Barbados.org/Chess.ý

Barbados Seeks to Develop Women's Chess

From the BarbadosAdvocate.com Chess pushing to revive the number of ladies on the board Web Posted - Sun Jul 27 2008 Vice President of the Barbados Chess Federation (BCF) Rohan Waithe has plans he is eager to set in motion, and one of them is the development of women's chess in Barbados. Speaking to Barbados Advocate Sports, Waithe, who is also the Member Development officer with the association, pointed out, " For the immediate future, we will be looking to revive the Barbados Ladies Chess Association, with the aim of making tangible efforts at increasing the number of females playing.The Inter-school girls has not yet been played this year, but it is vital if we are seriously looking at taking ladies chess to a higher level. We have many bright sparks among the junior girls, and with sustained coaching and high-level competition, this should augur well for the future." He noted, "We have a vibrant inter-school programme with over 300 students from primary and secondary school taking part in this years inter-school tournament, along with 75 players in the under-12 national championships. There are several juniors who came through this programme who have done well regionally like Justin Blackman, Martyn Del Castilho, Shamel Howell and Alex Jackman. However, what we need to do is get the transition from the Junior ranks to senior ranks. In the past, we had several clubs in various communities, so that outside of school, juniors had an opportunity to play chess with seniors. We need to urgently revive those community clubs." "We will soon have a big international junior tournament, the Sagicor Barbados Junior Open Tournament starting August 11. We are also sending Male and Female teams to the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden Germany in November, he added. "Over the next few years, our goal has to be producing another International Master, along with Kevin Denny. This means providing training for our best juniors and seniors. We would need to have an ongoing coaching programme probably sourcing coaching from overseas. To sustain this development we need to look at regional tournaments such as the Pan-American and Central American Tournaments. This is essential as we need to play high level chess constantly," Waithe argued. Waithe acknowledged that hosting tournaments as well as travelling even regionally is costly. "Naturally funding is also a major concern, we are grateful for the assistance of the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), National Sports Council (NSC), and corporate Barbados." (AP)