Carl Ja­cobs

Three oth­er qual­i­fy­ing events will com­plete the list of fi­nal­ists who will meet to de­cide the na­tion­al cham­pi­on in an eleven-round round robin con­test at Cas­ca­dia Ho­tel come Oc­to­ber to No­vem­ber.

Pre­lim­i­nar­ies in the East (Ari­ma) in April and South (San Fer­nan­do) in May will pro­duce an ad­di­tion­al six fi­nal­ists while To­ba­go will pro­vide two more in June. Will these pre­lim­i­nar­ies now cat­a­pult more tal­ent­ed young­sters in­to the fi­nals? The prospect seems favourable as they no longer have to de­cide be­tween these na­tion­al cham­pi­onship events and the con­cur­ring an­nu­al ju­nior tour­na­ments. The ben­e­fit of this change, mak­ing for the widest pos­si­ble par­tic­i­pa­tion, may al­ready be seen in the in­creased num­ber of ju­niors among the 27 play­ers con­test­ing the cur­rent qual­i­fi­er.