Barbados: The Barbados Junior Chess players collected two bronze medals at the 19th Central American & Caribbean (CAC) Youth Chess Championships which finished today in San Salvador.
Fifteen year-old Woman Candidate Master Hannah Wilson, the 2023 CAC Girls’ under-16 gold medalist who skipped the girls’ under-16 division to play up in the girls’ under-18 division took the bronze medal from a field of 24 of the best top juniors in the region.
The other bronze medal went to Janiyah Browne who competed in the girls’ under-10 division on her first major outing for Barbados.
Woman Candidate Master Chanon Reifer-Belle also had a podium finish when she took 5th place out of 28 girls in the girls’ under-16 division.
The national girls’ under-12 champion Janiyah Browne drew her first game in the girls’ under-10 division against 15th seed Luciana Paguaga Cruz of Nicaragua before defeating fourth seed Azaria Bethell of the Bahamas in the second round.
Playing in the girls’ under-8 division at the CAC games for the first time, Diasha-Rose Parris won her first match against fourth seed Megan Garcia Mendoza of El Salvador but lost her second round match to sixth seed Cala Herrera Cordoba of Costa Rica.
Noah Clarke lost his first round in the boys’ under-16 division against Tristan Siewdass of Trinidad but won his second game against Eduardo Navarro Barrios of Panama.
Nathan Griffith, also making his debut for Barbados in the boys’ under-18 age group, lost his first round match against Alex Ibarra of El Salvador and rebounded in the second round to defeat Theo Kushinakajo of Panama.
Representing Barbados in the boys’ under-14 age group, Mileke Sinckler and Aaron Jaikaran both lost their opening games but came back stronger in the second round.
Sinckler lost against Salvadorian Leonel Treminio Umanzor and drew his second round with Aldo Carillo Rodriguez also of El Salvador. Jaikaran lost to Panamanian Jose Fabrega Van Der Laat in the first round, but he defeated Daniel Vaquerano of El Salvador in his second round match.
Playing in the boys’ under-8 division, Raef Clarke lost his opening match and so did Sameera Jaikaran in the girls’ under-10 division, Jaeda Herbert in the girls’ under-12 division and Naomi Lewis in the girls’ under-14 division.
