Callender wins U1400 category in Barbados Women’s Tournament

Jessica Callender represented Guyana in the Annual Margaret Prince Memorial Women’s Rapid Tournament online, where she tied for the top spot in the Under-1400 rated division alongside Barbadian Alesha Lovell.

The tournament, hosted by the Barbados Chess Federation’s Women’s Sub-Committee, was held on October 1-2, 2022. The event attracted 26 participants from 10 countries – Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, Martinique, Netherland Antilles, Suriname, and Trinidad.
While Callender shared the top spot for Best U1400, she finished 10th overall. This is an improvement on last year’s inaugural event where she placed 15th in the seven-round tournament.
She won her matches against Philana Johnson, Shanelyh Fabias, Alexandra Kumar, and Kayla Martin.

Callender is recently coming off an exceptional performance at this year’s FIDE Chess Olympiad where she was one of the top scorers on Guyana’s women’s team and earned her conditional Women’s Candidate Master (WCM) title.
Guyana’s Ciel Clement, a 13-year-old up-and-coming player, put on a stellar performance in the tournament as well, finishing 18th overall.
The youngster from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) impressively won the women’s division of the National U14 Rapid Open Tournament just a few months prior.