Team Jamaica overcame 14 other countries, including the strength of host country Trinidad and Tobago, and Cuba to become the 2023 champions of the recently concluded Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess Festival held in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The hosts secured second place with Cuba finishing in third place.
There were strong performances from all of Jamaica’s players to bring home the winners’ trophy, and several players shone on the podium at the end of the six-day tournament, which had over 230 players from 15 countries across the region.
Candidate Master (CM) Jaden Shaw blew away the field in the U16 Open section with a perfect nine out of nine points for the gold trophy. At that stage Shaw was poised to be named FIDE Master (FM) as he was nearing the rating bar of 2100, as a result of this tournament.
He also earned his second norm towards becoming an International Master (IM). This means there is only one norm left for Shaw to become Jamaica’s third-ever International Master, after IM Jomo Pitterson, and IM Shane Matthews.
Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Raehanna Brown also had a phenomenal tournament, winning gold with seven points and two draws for a total of eight points. With this excellent performance she now qualifies for the Woman International Master title, subject to a rating of 2000.
She also gained a massive 60 rating points from the tournament towards this goal. This would make Brown the third woman in Jamaica’s history to achieve this title, after WIM Deborah Richards-Porter, and WIM Rachel Miller.
Another amazing performance for gold, was that of Emilia Rose-Leake in the Under 10 female section. She had no losses and won her age group with a score of 8.5 out of nine points. Going forward she will be working on gaining rating points to gain the WCM or CM titles that she is already entitled to, subject to an 1800 rating for the WCM title, and 2000 rating for the CM title.
Newcomer Rajvir Shergil also had an excellent performance in the U08 Open section with eight points overall, suffering only one loss to Bahamian Caerwyn Turnquest in the sixth round.
Shergil, who entered the tournament unrated, will now qualify for the Candidate Master title subject to achievement of a rating of 2000.
Other noteworthy performances included those of Gabriella Watson in the Under 16 female section, Aaron McKoy in the Under 12 Open section, and Dayna-Simone Swasey and Leah Logan in the Under 08 female section.
Watson scored 6.5 points, beating top seed, Bajan Hannah Wilson, but suffering two losses and a draw to come out with the silver medal, behind Wilson. This performance entitles Watson to the WCM title for a second time, subject to achievement of the 1800 rating bar.
Aaron McKoy also placed second with 6.5 points, losing only to the two highest rated players in the section – Cuban Osiel Alberto Alonso Orta and Sahiean Polanco Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, and having a draw with the third rated seed for the section.
This performance entitles McKoy to a Candidate Master title, subject to achievement of the 2000 rating bar. Dayna-Simone Swasey and Leah Logan competed in the Under 08 Open section based on a merging of the boys and girls for Under 08. Overall, Swasey had five points which made her second among the Under 08 females, just ahead of Leah Logan, who also had five points, and placed third on tiebreak.
The success of the team would not have been possible without the support of the individual sponsors, parents, coaches IM Jomo Pitterson, FM Warren Elliott, Troy McKoy and the Jamaica Chess Federation head of delegation WIM Deborah Richards-Porter, who was also coach to several students.
The results for the talented and hard-working Jamaican team of 29 players is as follows:
Under18 Open (20 players) – Darren McKennis (6th with 5 points), Aayush Jain (7th with 5 points) John Stephenson (13th with 3.5 points)
Under18 Female (11 players) – WCM Raehanna Brown (1st with 8 points), Amy Stephenson (5th with 5.5 points), Kaity Gayle (9th with 3 points)
Under16 Open (29 players) – CM Jaden Shaw (1st with 9 points), JLoy Chin (6th with 5.5 points)
Under16 Female (18 players) – Gabriella Watson (2nd with 6.5 points), Suraiya Matandara-Clarke 8th with 5 points)
Under14 Open (33 players) – Cameron Coe (8th with 5.5 points), Corbin Harvey (9th with 5 points)
Under14 Female (13 players) – Kaia Gayle (7th with 5 points)
Under12 Open (29 players) – Aaron McKoy (2nd with 6.5 points), Ronak Shergil (5th with 6 points), Vaishnav Gali (9th with 5 points), Khaleel Bartlett (12th with 5 points), Liam Logan (13th with 5 points)
Under12 Female (11 players) – Victoria Salazar (4th with 5.5 points), Tsahai Clarke (6th with 4 points), Kayla Moses (7th with 4 points)
Under10 Female (15 players) – Emilia Rose-Leake (1st with 8.5 points), Elisha Patel (4th with 6 points), Esther Mullings (9th with 4.5 points)
Under08 Open (23 players) – Rajvir Shergil (1st with 8 points)
Under08 Female (8 players) – Dayna-Simone Swasey (2nd with 5 points), Leah Logan (3rd with 5 points), Rhea Gardener (6th with 4 points)
