Ken Gibson wins Bahamas Chess Nationals 2010

MORE PHOTOS 

Ken Gibson receiving his first place trophy from Miles Yallop, Chess Officer at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture. (Photo by Andre White)

The Bahamas National Chess Championship 2010 is a single round robin tournament with 9 players. The tournament is both Bahamas Chess Federation (BCF) and World Chess Federation (FIDE) rated and ran from Thursday November 4 to Sunday November 21, 2010 on the island of New Providence, The Bahamas.

Time Control: 75/40 then SD 15. This means that each player is given 75 minutes to make 40 moves and then 15 minutes to complete the game.

Venue: All games will be played at TA Thompson Junior High School Auditorium except the games schedule for November 6, 20 and 21 which will be held at CW Sawyer Primary School Auditorium.

Qualifying Process: The qualifying process for this year’s Nationals involved players participating in the Qualifying Tournament held in September. They had to finish in the top 8 and play in an additional BCF sanctioned event.

Invited Players

Name	FIDE ID No	BCF Rating	FIDE Rating
Marvin Taylor	10400427	2057	Unrated
Tamiko McDonald	10400117	1790	1534
Yan Lyansky	10400290	1900	1795
Philip Paul	10400249	1668	1548
Chappel Whyms	10400125	1772	1623
Ken Gibson	10400079	1906	1888
NM Byron Small	10400044	1891	1792
Milton Evans	10400192	1779	1612
Joseph Ferguson	10400109	1896	1732

Round 9 results

This year’s Chess Nationals was very competitive.  In fact, the tournament winner was not decided until the final round.  Once the final round was completed and all hostilities had ended, Ken Gibson, the 2008 National Chess Champion, had succeeded once again and won the 2010 Chess Nationals.  Also he completed his second and final Bahamas National Chess Master norm.

Ken was a very active player this year.  In February, he and Joseph Ferguson became the first Bahamian chess players to draw with a Grand Master when they drew with GM Dave Norwood during a Chess Simultaneous organized by the Bahamas Chess Federation.  Also, Ken qualified to play and participated in his first Caribbean Chess Sub Zonal held in The Bahamas.

Improved Tournament Conditions: This year, the organizers provided Wooden Chess Pieces and Boards, a DGT Board provided through A CACDEC grant.  In addition, short  summaries were posted on the BCF’s website and Facebook.

Chappel Whyms (Photo by Andre White)

Joseph Ferguson (L) finished in second place after a third place finish in last year’s Nationals.  Joseph finished this chess year strong after beginning it with a draw against GM Dave Norwood during a chess simultaneous held this year in February.  

Joseph Ferguson

Yan Lyansky 2009 National Champion finished 3^rd on tie-break and missed his opportunity to secure his second and final National Master norm.

Defending Champion – Yan Lyansky

Schedule and results