Ethan Lee reigns supreme at Saints championships

The recently concluded St. Stanislaus College Open Chess Competition is one of many “Chess in Schools” events whose main purpose is to empower students through Chess: by using the game to assist students with their educational and social development.
Running from Thursday, May 17 to Saturday, May 19, this year’s competition saw participation form students of St. Stanislaus College, Marian Academy and Christ Church Secondary School.
At the end of the three-day event, it was Ethan Lee of Marian Academy who emerged as the winner, his having swept the competition and remaining undefeated. The young man who recently received his first FIDE (World Chess Federation) trounced Ricardo Ramlall, Savir Gookul and Odit Rodriguez in his first three rounds of play. Later, It seemed as though Lee sourced confidence from those wins, as he went on to defeat the likes of Jaden ‘Mikhail’ Taylor, Ghansham Allijohn and Waveney Johnson, who are all exceptional young players.
Rivalling Lee was St. Stanislaus’s Jaden ‘Mikhail’ Taylor, who passed up an opportunity to break Lee’s winning streak. In spite of that, the youngster still managed to accumulate 5.5 points from his seven games, which landed him in the second position for the overall competition.
Whilst Ethan Lee won the overall competition, Jaden Taylor was crowned as the new ‘Saints Chess Champion’ because he attends that school.
Another St. Stanislaus student, Ghansham Allijohn, and Christ Church’s Waveney Johnson both ended on 5 points, but third place was awarded to Allijohn by the tabulation system.
According to National Chess Coach Wendell Meusa, the competition identified a number of young talents, such as Odit Rodrigues, Andrew & Alexander Ally, and young Ronan Lee, all of Marian Academy. Other players such as young upcoming female Chelsea Juma and school-mate Savir Gookul continue to show a lot of improvement in their game.
The young stars will meet again when the National Inter-Schools Chess Championships are staged later in the year.