Parsons holds sole lead of Michael Forde Memorial chess event

With only one round of the 2024 Michael Forde Memorial chess tournament to be completed, Justin Parsons has one hand on the title as he leads the event with five and a half points from the six matches played so far.

Parsons took the lead when he defeated the then leader Ronaldo Rochester in round four. He has then won all his subsequent games to be now entrenched as the favorite to take the title.

In the last round Parsons found himself under a withering attack by Noah Clarke, but he was able to survive and turn things around to claim an important victory.

Two players sit a point adrift of Parsons in joint second place. These are Travis Grant and Rochester.

In their last matches Grant won from Chris White in an intriguing showdown. White, ironically with the white pieces, put Grant’s king under immense pressure and many pundits thought it would have been an early win for White. However, he could not find the knock-out punch and as the game meandered on Grant was able to win a couple of pawns and going into the end game, he held a clear advantage.

However, due to his king being exposed and alone, White used his queen to harass White’s king and even won back a few pawns. It now looked that White could claim a draw by continuously checking Grant’s king but White resigned as he could not figure this out at the board.

The other player in second place, Rochester, also had his lucky stars to count as his opponent Boris Thompson misplayed his attack and eventually lost.

Other players in the round recording victories were Savion Little, Amari Blackett and Charis Stuart. Action will conclude this weekend at the Coles Building, Bay Street in Bridgetown. (KD/PR)