Eleven chess players from Bermuda participated in the 8th annual CARIFTA Junior Chess Championships held in Curacao from April 18th -23rd, competing among 187 Caribbean players in under-20, under-16 and under-12 age categories.

Preparation for the tournament began six months ago with a group of keen junior players meeting every Saturday afternoon at the Bermuda Housing Corporation on Church Street to learn and practice all aspects of chess.

The training was led by instructors Sergey Goncharov and Mark Flanagan, who also coached the team during the tournament. All preparations were overseen by the Bermuda Chess Association’s General Secretary Andrea Marshall-Harris.

The CARIFTA Championships required each participant to play 7 games over 4 days against opponents within their respective age categories. After seven hard-fought rounds Bermuda had won their first ever CARIFTA Chess medals.

Dylan Flanagan – being the youngest player in the tournament, at 5-years old – narrowly missed the tie-break for gold, and attained the silver medal for Bermuda in the Under-8 Open subsection. Niccolo Walrond won the Bronze medal for Bermuda in the Under-20 Open subsection.

All eleven Bermuda players acquitted themselves superbly. The highlight of the tournament was Round 2 where the team scored 7 wins from 11 games. Congratulations to all players who participated, all parents and the Bermuda Chess Association members who supported the team.

The Bermuda Chess Association thanked the Ministry for their support.

Final standings for each player in their respective subsections:

Under-20 Open subsection

• Niccolo Walrond 3rd

Under-18 Open subsection

• Ryne Cash 9th

• Conor Outerbridge 12th

• Cormac Sagurs 13th

Under-16 Open subsection

• Stevonte Young 22nd

Under-14 Open subsection

• Neil Varwandkar 14th

Under-12 Open subsection

• Dimitri Goncharov 8th

Under 10 Female subsection

• Maya Kikkeri 6th

• Aditi Varwandkar 7th

Under-8 Open subsection

• Dylan Flanagan 2nd

• Odin Flanagan 4th