Barbados National Champion Terry Farley drew his opening match against Costa Rican International Master Bernal Gonzalez to give himself a solid start in the Central American & Caribbean Zonal Chess Championships in Santo Domingo.
 
Farley, playing the whites pieces and wanting to avoid the sharp complications of an e4 opening, attempted an English Opening which Gonzalez immediately transposed in to a Caro Kann, but at the cost of an early sacrifice of his c pawn.
 
What followed was an exchange of queens and return of the pawn leaving Farley with the positional weakness of an isolated queen pawn but some initiative on the Queen side. This eventually led to a serious of exchanges and Knight vs Bishop endgame which Farley had little difficulty in drawing after 59 moves.
 
In other matches, there were wins for the three Grandmasters, Lenier Doninguez of Cuba, Lazaro Bruzon also of Cuba and Juan Carlos Gonzalez of Mexico against Costa Rican International Master Leonardo Valdez and Venezuelans Winston Boada and Pablo Trujillo respectively.
 
Round 1 was not kind to the host country Dominican Republic as both of their entrants, International Master Jose Dominguez and Eddy De Los Santos lost their opening matches against International Masters Leon Manual of Mexico and Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela.
 
Colombian FIDE Masters Carlo Vittorino and Rafael Mendoza drew their opening encounter to round off the results from 1st round matches.
 
In the Women’s Section, top seeds Woman Grandmasters Maritza Arribas and Sulennis Pina of Cuba beat Woman FIDE Master Sonia Zepeda and Dorisbel Munoz of the Dominican Republic respectively.
 
Woman International Masters Irene Han of Venezuela won against Woman FIDE Master Angela Franco of Colombia, while her sister Ingrid Han lost to Woman International Master Alejandra Guerrero of Mexico.
 
Martha Mateus of Colombia had a good start, defeating Woman International Master Lorena Zepeda of El Salvador as did the unrated pair of Celsa Sanchez and Drina Rincon of Venezuela who drew with Woman FIDE Master Mercedes De La Cruz of Dominican Republic and Woman Candidate Master Nelly Estrada of Mexico.
 
Round 2 sees Farley paired off against Bruzon, a match which the Cuban GM will certainly be interested in, given that his only previous encounter with a Barbadian player was also in Santo Domingo three years ago where the then Barbados National Champion FIDE Master Delisle Warner created a tournament upset by drawing with him in the opening round of the 2004 Santo Domingo Open.
 

Pairing for Round 2

CAMPEONATO CENTROAMERICANO Y DEL CARIBE ZONAL 2.3 (2007) ABSOLUTO Y FEMENINO
Santo Domingo de Guzmán, República Dominicana 29 de Mayo al 10 de Junio del 2007
RONDA 2 CATEGORÍA ABSOLUTA (31 de Mayo 10:00HRS)

RONDA 2 CATEGORÍA FEMENINA (30 de Mayo 10:00HRS)