BAHAMAS CHESS FEDERATION

Newsletter November, 2006 

SPECIAL EDITION

The 35^th Bahamas National Chess Championship

Last month, November, featured the long awaited Bahamas National Chess Championship.  This year saw the return of the round robbin format which was re-introduced in an afford to have the tournament FIDE registered and rated.  The tournament featured the following players with their Bahamas Chess Federation (B.C.F.) and FIDE ratings listed below:

Excluded from the list of players were Kean A. Smith and Warren Seymour who qualified to play in the Nationals in January and July, 2006 respectively.  Notwithstanding that, Smith sat out this year and directed the tournament while Tournament Director, Warren Seymour, was unable to play because of other commitments.  Both Whyms and McLean were invited to play in the Nationals once Smith and Seymour confirmed their unavailability.

Rounds 1 & 2

After the first two rounds of play held on Saturday 4^th and Sunday 5^th November, 2006 former National Champion Byron Small was leading the field with two points.  He was closely followed by the 2005 National Champion Frankly Gibson and Ken Gibson with 1 ½ points.    

When asked how he felt about his performance after the first two rounds, Byron  said that he was happy that he had two points at this stage notwithstanding that his game in round two perhaps should have been loss.  He continued saying that the field of players and the format makes the tournament extremely competitive and one of the more competitive Nationals that he could remember. 

Byron Small

            One of the highlights of the second round was the game between two rivals, Frankly Gibson and Valentine Cox.  The game was a Sicilian Defence with Gibson playing the white pieces.  Although he missed a win earlier in the game, the kingside attack he launched and the resulting weakness on Cox’s back rank coupled with time pressure, was too much for Cox’s counter play in the centre. 

Round 3

Chapell Whyms (left) and Joseph Ferguson (right)

Round 4

National Champions shut out

This round saw the fall of all the National Champions that were playing in this year’s Nationals.  Current National Champion, Franklyn Gibson loss to The 2006 Bahamas Jr. Champion, Elton Joseph.  Frank arrived late with 51 minutes left on his clock to meet the time control of 30 moves in 90 minutes.  Elton was able to create sufficient threats and eventually sacrificed a knight which lead to a mating net against Frank’s White King

National Champion Valentine Cox also arrived late and fell to former Jr. Champion Joseph Ferguson. 

Finally, Byron Small was defeated by Charles Duncombe.  Further investigation would show that this was the second time in as many meetings across the board that Duncombe defeated Small.  The last time they met was in August, 2006 at the New Providence Invitational Chess Tournament which featured FIDE Rated players from Barbados and Jamaica.  It was at this Invitational where BCF players earned there FIDE Ratings.

After four rounds of Chess play the results were as follows: 

Players

1.      Charles Duncombe 3 points

Byron Small                        3

3.      Ken Gibson                        2 ½

4.      Valentine Cox                     2

Joseph Ferguson                 2

Elton Joseph                       2

Chapell Whymns                2

8.   Franklyn Gibson                 1 ½

9.   Leroy Mclean                     1

                Tameko McDonald              1

Round 5

Black is Powerful!

This round was memorable as all players playing the with the black pieces won!  Black is still OK.

Tournament Leader, Charles Duncombe, continued his wining streak by defeating Leroy McLean.  Ken Gibson sat in second place with 3 ½ points after defeating Elton Joseph, while Byron Small, Valentine Cox and Joseph Ferguson all share third place with 3 points.  Current National Champion Franklyn Gibson found himself in sixth place with 2 ½ points. 

      After five rounds of play the standings were are follows:

Players

1. Charles Duncombe                   4 points

2.   Ken Gibson                              3 ½

3.   Byron Small                              3

Valentine Cox                           3

Joseph Ferguson                       3

6.   Franklyn Gibson                       2 ½

7.   Elton Joseph                             2

Chapell Whymns                      2

9.   Leroy Mclean                           1

Tameko McDonald                  1

Round 6

Chess play continued on Tuesday 14^th November, 2006, at the 35^th Bahamas National Chess Championship.

Tournament leader Charles Duncombe easily defeated Chapell Whyms after Whyms blundered a piece in the Opening.  This win allowed Duncombe to move one step closer to becoming the next National Chess Champion of The Bahamas.  But before Duncombe could claim the coveted title, he had to play the current National Champion, Franklyn (Frank) Gibson, in round 7 scheduled for Sunday 19^th November, 2:00 pm.  It was noted that although Frank was 1 ½ points behind the tournament leader; it was still possible for him to win the National Championship.

Charles Duncombe

Ken Gibson continued to play solid chess and remained in second place with a win against Byron Small the 1992 National Champion.  Ken then had to play Duncombe, Frank and Joseph Ferguson in the last three rounds of the tournament.  This was no small task as these players were holding the top four places in the tournament. 

Ken Gibson

Valentine Cox who won the Nationals in 1975 and 2002, loss to Tameko McDonald. 

The two-time Bahamas Junior Champion, Joseph Ferguson, defeated three-time and current Bahamas Junior Champion, Elton Joseph. 

In what was seen as a second wind, National Champion Franklyn Gibson defeated Leroy McLean and stood in fourth place with three rounds of play to go.  Frank was schedule to play the tournament leader in the next round which was a critical game for Frank to win if he was to remain in contention of winning the Nationals this year. 

Franklyn Gibson

The standings after six rounds of Chess play were as follows: 

1.      Charles Duncombe       5 points

2.      Ken Gibson                  4 ½

3.      Joseph Ferguson           4

4.      Franklyn Gibson           3 ½     

5.      Byron Small                  3

Valentinie Cox  3

7.   Elton Joseph                 2

Chapell Whyms            2

Tameko McDonald      2

10. Leroy McLean             1

Round 7

The 7^th Round of the 35^th Bahamas National Chess Championship was held on the 19^th of November 2006 at C.C. Sweeting Jr High School.  The results from Round 7 were as follows:

Franklyn Gibson defeated tournament leader Charles Duncombe;

Leroy Mclean won against Ken Gibson; 

Joseph Ferguson beat Bryon Small;

Valentine Cox defeated the Junior Champion Elton Joseph and;

Tameko McDonald defeated Chapell Whymns.

The standings after yesterday’s round were:

Players

1.      Charles Duncombe 5 points

Joseph Ferguson                 5

            3.   Ken Gibson                        4 ½

Frank Gibson                     4 ½ 

5.  Valentine Cox                      4

6.  Bryon Small             3

Tameko McDonald            3

8.  Leroy Mclean                      2

               Chapell Whymns                   2

                 Elton Joseph                        2

The result showed that National Champion, Frank Gibson had fought his way back into the leadership race of the tournament.

Round 9

New National Chess Champion Crowned!

The 9^th and final round of the 35^th Bahamas National Chess Championship was played at the Government House Ball Room. 

Dubbed as the most competitive Nationals in living history, the tournament ended in a three way tie for second place, with the new National Champion finishing only a mere ½ point ahead of the second place finishers.

Franklyn Gibson defeated Ken Gibson, dashing Ken’s chances of winning the Nationals.  Charles Duncombe defeated Joseph Ferguson and won the 2006 Nationals.  Valentine Cox drew with Leroy McLean, missing out on the opportunity to tie Charles as the National Champion.  Byron Small defeated Tameko McDonald and Elton Joseph won against Chappell Whymns.

The new Bahamas National Chess Champion is Charles Duncombe, who started playing competitive chess only in January this year.  He played in the New Providence Invitational in August, 2006 where he earned a FIDE rating of 1624.

The final Standings were as follows; 

1.      Charles Duncombe 6 points

2.      Franklyn Gibson                 5 ½

Valentine Cox                     5 ½

Ken Gibson                        5 ½

5.  Joseph Ferguson                  5

6.  Bryon Small             4

     Tameko McDonald 4

8.  Leroy McLean                    3 ½

9.  Elton Joseph                        3

                 Chappel Whyms                  3