Four Barbadians conditionally awarded titles after Olympiad

Justin Parsons

Four Barbadian chess players have been conditionally awarded titles following their performance at the 44th FIDE Olympiad in Chennai, India.

The four are reigning national ladies champion Hannah Wilson, double Pan American Youth Championships gold medallist Chanon Reifer-Belle, former national Under-20 and Under-18 female champion Kiarra Eversley and former national Under-20 champion Justin Parsons.

Parsons has been conditionally awarded the title of Candidate Master, while Wilson, Reifer-Belle and Eversley have been conditionally awarded the title of Woman Candidate Master.

The quartet, competing at their first Olympiad, achieved the requirement of attaining a 50 per cent record from a minimum seven games during the July 29 to August 9 event. They must now fulfil a minimum rating requirement to be fully awarded the title.

Parsons, who scored six out of ten points and moved his rating to 1795 after the Olympiad, needs to achieve a rating of 2000 to be awarded the Candidate Master title, while the requirement for the three female players to be awarded the Woman Candidate Master title is a rating of 1800.

The 13-year-old Wilson, who was crowned as the youngest Barbados ladies national champion in April, scored five and a half out of ten points at the Olympiad and improved her rating to 1573.

Reifer-Belle, 12, who captured gold medals in the online rapid and blitz events at the Pan American Youth Championships earlier this year and became the youngest Barbadian to compete at an Olympiad, achieved three and a half out of seven points and moved her rating to 1269.

Eversley, 20, who is also a CARIFTA medallist, gained four points out of ten – she satisfied the requirement for the conditional title by having four points after eight rounds – and now has a rating of 1374.

Two other Barbadians narrowly missed out of achieving conditional titles. Emar Edwards collected four and a half points from ten games, while Gaybrianna Moore scored three points from six games. (BCF)

Hannah Wilson and Kiarra Eversley