Cave eyes New India chess title

Cristo Cave, a National Chess Master, is treading lightly into the final two rounds of the New India Assurance National Chess Championship this weekend. He holds a slender one-point lead over FIDE Master Mario Merritt after nine matches. Behind Cave on seven and Merritt on six points is Andrew Bowles on 5.5. Jeffrey Marcelle and Dr Eddison Chang on five points each and Frank Yee on 4.5 points. Merritt and Yee are the only unbeaten players in the competition with Yee drawing all his nine matches.

Among the women Arlene Blackman upset Desire Derrick to blow the tournament wide open. With two rounds remaining, yesterday and today, each of the four top players —  Blackman, Derrick, Aditi Soondarsingh and Chantel Fitzpatrick have all lost one match and are even on points. Trinidad and Tobago’s chessists  are competing for the Prime Minister’s Trophy in the  National Championships organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Chess Association and sponsored by the New India Assurance Company Limited. The top three players of the tournament will automatically lead the TT team to the World Chess Olympiad to be hosted by Spain in mid-October. The championships will come to a close today at Algico Plaza, Port-of-Spain.