Jamaica National Champion FIDE Master (FM) Shreyas Smith won the Premier Category of the XVIII Andres Clemente Vazquez International Chess Tournament held October 22 through 28 in Mayabeque, Cuba.
FM Shreyas Smith, on the back of his outstanding performance in the 44th Chess Olympiad held in Chennai, India, where he scored 6.5/10 points, started brilliantly, and led for much of the tournament.
Second place went to Cuban FM Jesus Jerzy Leiva Perez, who also had six points, while International Master (IM) Alejandro Michel Perez Diaz, also from Cuba, placed third with 5.5 points.
Facing strong regional competition from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Guatemala, FM Smith won on tie-break with six points from nine games. He performed brilliantly in defeating two of the International Masters. Starting as the sixth seed, he defeated both the second and third seeds in the tourney, on his way to victory.
Since 1975, Jamaica has had a great chess relationship with Cuba, with exchange programmes facilitating player participation in events in both nations. This performance by FM Smith is one of the best performances by a Jamaican player in international competition. He played aggressively, winning six games, without a draw. He showed tremendous pace throughout the tournament. In the final round, he was the lone leader fighting for the title.
“It is my hope that my performance opens the door for more Jamaican recognition, in order to achieve more invitations for players to international tournaments in Cuba and elsewhere,” said FM Smith.
Based on FM Smith’s performance, along with another Jamaican representative, he was invited to the tournament for 2023.
This event was named after Andres Clemente Vazquez, who was an outstanding Cuban chess player, author, and attorney. It was a round-robin event, where all ten invited chess masters played against each other.
 Shreyas Smith won the Premier Category of the XVIII Andres Clemente Vazquez International Chess){kind=link}