Ty Humphrey lands chess gold for Trinidad and Tobago at CAC Youth Festival

Youngster Ty Humphrey was the standout performer for Trinidad and Tobago at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Youth Chess Festival which was held in Puerto Rico from December 15-20, as he won gold in the Under-10 Absolute category.

Humphrey’s showing followed up the silver-medal finish he had at the Youth Chess Festival in El Salvador last year, and set the tone for the performance of Team TTO in Puerto Rico this month. Humphrey played unbeaten through the Under-10 Absolute category, while his stellar play just saw him conceding the single draw against Jamaica’s Rajvir Shergil. St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Shetty Vedant was second in the Under-10 Absolute category, with Panama’s Jarrin Zhang Dominick Young Hen placing third. Humphrey’s countryman Jaydon Bowyer placed eighth with 5.5 points.

TT had a delegation of 19 players across the under-8, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18 categories, with coaching support on the ground coming from Fide Master (FM) Joshua Johnson and Candidate Master (CM) Dev Soondarsingh, while TT Chess Association (TTCA) assistant secretary Tisha Balliram served as the team’s official delegate.

The event featured over 200 players from 22 national federations.

In the girls’ under-10 category, Catherine Ali also had a solid showing as she placed fourth on a tie-break after rattling off four wins and four draws. Ali had one defeat in the girls’ under-10 category which was won by Nicaragua’s Luciana Paguaga, with Guatemala’s Saisha Merida placing second.

In the Under-16 Absolute category, CM Kael Samuel Bisnath placed seventh with 5.5 points, with first place going to El Salvador’s Marvin Guevara as Puerto Rico’s Joshua Pedrosa grabbed the silver medal.

In the Blitz Chess Championship which was contested on December 19, there were also solid showings from the TTO contingent. Ilyas Hosein placed third in the Under-8 Absolute category, while Ali (girls’ under-10), Humphrey (Under-10 Absolute) and Naomi Clement (girls’ under-8) all registered fourth-place finishes. Meanwhile, Caleb Harry placed fifth in the Under-10 Absolute category.

TTCA president Sandy Razark served on the organising committee for the CAC Youth Chess Festival, while TTCA’s third vice president Sadiqah Razark, who was recently elevated as TT’s sole female arbiter, served as a member of the arbiter team for the youth festival.

A TTCA release congratulated players, coaches and parents on a commendable international campaign and said it is looking forward to building on these results as part of the ongoing youth development programme. The TTCA also thanked one of its main sponsors C3 Centre for its continued support.