The 2nd Qualifier for the 2014 National Championships has started. Leading the field are Candidate Masters Cecil Lee and Frank Sears. Lee is taking on Hermes Mentor who made a lovely comeback in the Masters tournament earlier this year. Mentor has a lovely position coming out of Lee’s favourite English opening and has just sacrificed an exchange. I shall let you know how that ends up.
Meanwhile Sears is black against Ken Fitzpatrick. As many of you may know, Fitzpatrick played a big role in junior chess for many years up until the 1990s. Ken sacrificed a pawn against Sears and has a very active position. But as we all know, Sears is a fighter. It should prove very interesting to see if he can generate a k-side attack against Sears.
This tournament has also seen the return of the tough & solid player, Colin Knight. Colin is currently playing Carlyle Singh on board 3. Singh who is a member of Knights’ Chess club and is known for his great work as a coach with the T&T Chess Foundation, is playing a most fascinating position. If he can manage to open the centre, he may well be able to capitalize on Knight’s un-castled king. Stay tuned for more on that game.
Perhaps the other great battle in this round is the game between juniors Daniel Bhola and Rishon Ramlogan. Bhola sacrificed a pawn and seems to have sufficient compensation for it as he gets ready to launch a king-side attack. Meanwhile though Rishon is drumming up counter-play on the queen side.
Tune in for more on the 2nd National Prelims on your favourite local chess website: www.chesstt.org
