The Bahamas Chess Federation’s invitation-only tournament fielded 17 of the the best under 20-year olds in the nation.
Sixteen year-old Le Roi Thompson, who has won seven division trophies in his short two year chess career, fought off his brother Lemaro Thompson in the final round of the four round Swiss tournament to clinch the all-important 4th point for victory.
The Thompson brothers dominated as Lemaro finished 2nd having taken the scalp of former RBC Finco Bahamas Junior champion Elton Joseph, who began the tournament as the slim favourite.
Along with 13 year old Lemaro’s 2nd place, the best performance for age was achieved by Levardo Rolle who moves to S.A.C. this year. Levardo, only 11 years old, won a surprising game over Nadia Smith, the country’s top ranking female junior and one of the country’s top five junior players. Levardo finished the tournament fourth with three wins, ahead of many older players.
A relative newcomer to chess, Germaine Williams of C.O.B., who was also the eldest in the field, caused a first round upset by beating one of the country’s top juniors Gerald Higgs. Williams and Higgs finished fifth and sixth respectively.
At the presentation, Tournament Director Warren Seymour thanked RBC Finco for their continued support of youth chess.
“Finco has been a mainstay of the development of this fine pursuit in our country. In fact, RBC Finco is our longest supporter having sponsored junior chess since since 1974,” said Seymour. In presenting the five trophies, company representative Ms. Coretta Rolle said RBC Finco was proud to have supported chess for such a long time.
The new invitation-only tournament was hailed a success as it produced a more relaxed and thoughtful atmosphere, according to Warren Seymour.
Federation President Thierry Boeuf encouraged the juniors to study. He praised the Thompson brothers for working hard and for developing their talents seriously.
“Le Roi and Lemaro are a force to be reckoned with in the future,” said Boeuf. “Juniors ought to attended the chess clinics and buy and read more books. Although there were many fine games, you still have much to improve in the middle game and in basic techniques including end-games.
In a post-tournament interview Le Roi said his secret was training and practice.
“At home, there’s always a chess baord set up ready to go. We play chess at least an hour a day. When we come back from a tournament we plug into Fritz (computer chess program) and see how we could have improved our games. We also read a lot of Grandmaster books,” said Le Roi. “Recently I’ve been reading Nimzovich’s ‘My System’ and John Nunn’s ‘Secrets of Practical Chess’.”
Le Roi, who came third in the Finco tournament last year, set his sights on winning it this time round. He says he feared mostly his brother, rather than Elton Joseph, the former 2002 champ. Joseph has had a string of victories in 2003.
“I saw how hard my brother was training leading up to this tournament,” said Le Roi. “In the final round I was very worried about facing him. He was playing white, but he slipped when he gave me a rook and three pawns for his bishop and a knight. I was so concerned not to lose that I was playing more carefully than usual, and that helped me. On the day, I just played the better game and made fewer mistakes.”
Talking about his brother Le Roi said, “He’s just 13 so he’s pretty good, just as good as me. Betwen us, whoever plays white usually wins,” said the new champion.
“My goal is to win a strong international tournament. From there, I don’t know how far I can go,” said Le Roi.
The Chess Federation’s next tournament is the Vitamalt Classic at 10 a.m. on Sept 6th at C.C. Sweeting Senior High. All members are encouraged to attend.
