Due to the onset of the Covid-19 virus, all planned chess events in Belize have been canceled. However, as the World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen himself stated, "Chess is unique in the sports world as the moves are the same whether played on a wooden board or a computer screen."
On April 9th,2020 the BCF hosted one of the very first online tournament for Belize. It was a very successful event with 25 players participating including several of the best in Belize and players from ALL districts.
The tournament started at 12 noon and was finished at 1pm. The format for the tournament 5 minute with 2 second increment per move. It was an Arena style tournament, the first ever of its kind to be played amongst Belizeans.
Arena Tournaments are fast paced, action filled events where you try to earn as many points as you can in a certain amount of time. There are no rounds in an Arena Tournament. Players are paired nonstop after their games until the timer runs out.
A total of 108 Games were played in the tournament!
Congratulations to the top finishers:
1st place Gabriel Campos from Orange 30pts
2nd place Justin Hulse from Belize 26pts
3rd place Cristobal Campos from Corozal 23pts
4th place Kelvin Baizar from Cayo 23pts
The start of the tournament saw a key match up between Kurtis Valdez Ranked second in Belize taking on Justin Hulse a top place from Belize District. Justin gained a slight advantage in the game but missed a few key moves, following that, in a even position. Justin blundered his knight and subsequently lost the game.
Next we have a beautiful game by tournament favorite Cristobal Campos taking out Kurtis by slowly outplaying him in an even endgame.
An important game for the final standings was Kelvin Baizar of Cayo vs eventual tournament winner Gabriel Campos of Orange Walk. Kelvin slowly outplayed Gabriel in a Sicilian Defense. This win was what eventually propelled Kelvin to 4th place.
Lastly was an excellent win by Gabriel Campos vs Cristobal Campos. In a Queen's Gambit Declined Cristobal blundered a pawn and his position slowly deteriorated leading to Gabriel winning the game.
Final Standings:
Thank you to everyone who participated in the event! for the full list of results and games you can go to the following link: https://www.chess.com/tournament/live/arena/belize-chess-arena-tournament-180312
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