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Martyn Del Castilho is the new Barbados Open Champion after pacing a field of 74 players to win the title. Del Castilho, who's brother Dominic took 3rd position, defeated Marvin Dekker of Curacao in the final test to win the crown. The two were fighting neck-and-neck the whole tournament and spent most of the time chasing other players. What was interesting was the fact that the top 10 finishers represented six different nations and demonstrated the parity of the field. Overseas competitors represented 30% of all players.
Despite the absence of defending champion, Askari Elson, the "Bajans" held their home turf as the Del Castilho brothers amassed a combined 13½-2½. Bajans Jamel Richards and Muralihar Areti tallied 5½-2½ to place 6th-12th. Casanova Sanches of Suriname led the tournament after five rounds, but was hurt by a key loss to Dekker in the 7th round and finished on 5½-2½. His compatriot Avinash Wahi, who finished joint 2nd last year, also scored +3 at 5½-2½.
Jamaica sent their junior champion in Brandon Wilson who held the top seed, but suffered an early setback in round two, losing to Christopher Raphael of Trinidad and Tobago. Wilson would finish a respectable 6-2 and took the under-16 title. The talk of the tournament had to have been 10-year old Remo Bassan of Venezuela who scored an undefeated 5½-2½ and won the under-10 title. He held the Del Castilho brothers, Wilson and Wahi and also showed considerable promise in winning the blitz tournament.
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