The Bahamas comes up short at ISF competition

The Bahamas fell short of qualifying for the next round at the country’s first time competing in the International School Sport Federation (ISF) World Schools Championship Online Chess 2020 over the weekend.

The 14-and-under girls and boys were in action on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Playing in the 14-and-under girls division were Makayla Horton (St. Augustine’s College) and Faith Higgs (S.C. McPherson Junior High School). For the boys, The Bahamas was represented by Avian Pride (homeschooled), Seth Roberts (Queen’s College) and Daniel Ramtulla (Queen’s College).

They made history as the first competitors for The Bahamas at the tournament.

For the boys, Pride fell 1.5 points short of qualifying for the next round as he finished with 4.5 points (four wins and a draw). He won games against his teammate Roberts, France and Morocco twice. Pride finished 65th out of 90 competitors.

“Every game was very competitive,” Pride said. “Some of the competitors were more experienced and skilled than I was, but I fought hard and as long as possible and won a few games. I was really nervous at first because some of the opponents were rated so much higher than I was. After a few games, I realized that I am prepared to play at this level, and began to play with more confidence. I made a few blunders that cost me at least two games, but I am pleased with how I played.”

Pride said that it was an honor to represent The Bahamas, especially since it was the first time the country played in the tournament. He said he needs to work on his end game and needs more opportunities like this to play against higher rated players. He knows he can improve. Next year, he will be in the same age category and will be more experienced and skilled. Pride thanked the Ministry of Education, the Bahamas Chess Federation (BCF), sponsors and his coach Elton Joseph for the opportunity over the weekend.

Roberts finished with three points (three wins) to finish 84th and Ramtulla scored 2.5 points (two wins and one draw) to finish 88th. All three male players from The Bahamas were able to finish higher than higher-rated competitors.

For the girls, only Horton was able to play her games. Higgs was unable to play due to technical difficulties she experienced on Saturday that were beyond her control.

Horton finished the tournament with three wins out of 11 games to secure three points. She was able to finish 47th out of 51 players. Horton was also able to finish above players rated higher than her.

The tournament employed the three-minute blitz format. Horton said she is usually better at long time-controlled games, so playing blitz was a bit harder for her but it gave her an opportunity to experience quick thinking.

“In some games, I fell for a trap that is common. Other people I played made bad moves that made it easier for me to win. In some games, I was happy with my play. I was not happy for the fact that I fell for a trap because it was obvious,” Horton said.

The 13-year-old said she was nervous but added that it was fun to represent her country at the tournament.

“It was a lot of pressure because I am not that competitive,” Horton said. “I do not like competition because it stresses me out. Knowing what winning or losing posed was a lot of stress for me. Overall, I had a lot of fun playing chess because chess is a fun game.”

As to what she can improve on for next tournament, she said she plans to look at the whole board, remembering what the traps are and castle on time.

Horton has been playing chess for 11 months and is looking forward to making the team for next year’s tournament.

President of the Bahamas ISF Chapter, Rupert Gardiner, said the players are winners and the only way to go is up from here.

“Honestly, I think that they competed well, even though for the first time, they competed against kids from the Middle East, Europe and countries like Morocco, France and China – the best in the world. For me, they came out as winners. It was their first time in this kind of competition and they did well. They can only get better,” Gardiner said.

He is looking to have more competition with schools in The Bahamas by organizing more tournaments, inclusive of Grand Bahama and the Family Islands. He wants to get them accustomed to more competition.

Other countries that were represented at the tournament were Mongolia, Argentina, Turkey, China, Georgia, Iran, Oman and Mexico, among others.

This coming weekend, the under-18 boys and girls will be in action. Gardiner is looking forward to seeing the older kids compete and is looking for a few of them to qualify for the next round.

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