One of the biggest events on The Bahamas Chess Federation's calendar, the Junior Chess Championships, is scheduled for a 10 am start Saturday, August 26 at the CC Sweeting High School Auditorium.
Only the top ranked players ranging between primary school and college are eligible and were invited to play.
At least 24 players are set to compete and were selected based on their performances from two chess tournaments held earlier this year.
These tournaments include the Individual Scholastic Tournament held in March and the Team Championships held in June.
Some of the top-ranked junior players expected to compete include one of the youngest players in the country and defending champ in his age group, 11 year-old Akini Morris.
The overall defending junior champion, the College Of The Bahamasﾒ Elton Joseph is also expected to participate.
The Junior Championship tournamentsﾒ format will have each player play five rounds. The players with the highest accumulative score after the rounds are completed will advance to the finals.
According to the BCFﾒs Youth Programme Director and Tournament Organizer, Warren Seymour, stiff competition is expected.
"There should be exciting matches coming from high school players like Lamaro Thompson. I think he will give Joseph a run for his money. Also I expect big things from the youngest player in the tournament Akini," said Seymour.
In other BCF news, a team exhibition was held last week where six teams made up of four players apiece participated.
The exhibition was organized by the BCF to encourage more female participation in the game.
In the end, the Pass Pawns team, captained by Milton Evans, won with a total of 12.5 points.
There was a three-way tie for second that saw the Bad Bishops, Redoubtable Rooks and the Poison Pawns accumulate 11.5 points apiece.
Placing fifth were the Defiant Knights with a total of six points and the Knightmares were sixth with a total on 5.5 points.
Seymour who organized this exhibition noted that, "We were trying to give the young female players a chance to play. There was a good turnout. However seeing that the summer break is still ongoing, the majority of them did not show. As a result there were some weak players on the teams and the overall scores reflected that. But overall it was a good idea," Seymour explained.
By: Dahalia Smith, The Bahama Journal
