After trailing the twin Island Republic after 7 rounds, Jamaica’s Chess team comprising Fide Master Joshua Christie, FM Shreyas Smith, Amy Stephenson and Kaia Gayle pulled off stunners in the final two rounds of the second edition of the CARICOM Chess Classic on Sunday to claim the prize.
Team Jamaica receive their spoils
The Pegasus Suites venue in Kingston, Georgetown was engulfed by riveting action on the board as Jamaica improved their points just enough to get past defending champions Trinidad and Tobago.
As Jamaica took gold, Trinidad and Tobago’s team comprising FM Joshua Johnson, FM Kevin Cupid, WFM Ysvett Hermoso Rodriguez and WCM Zara La Fleur had to settle for silver.
Coming in third was Suriname’s team of Jason Yeung, Ethan Tjin Kon Kiem WCM Victoria Kaslan and WCM Alexandria Kaslan.
Over in the Under- 16 Junior championships, Barbados’ Mileke Sinckler captured the top spot while his teammate Noah Clarke claimed silver.
Last year’s champions Trinidad had to settle for second place
Suriname’s Ravish Ramessar completed the top podium while Guyana’s Alexander Zhang and Aaron Jaikarran of Barbados capped off the top three.
Prior to Sunday’s final round action, Trinidad and Tobago led the competition after 7 rounds with 13 points. Eventual Champions, Jamaica had 12 points while Suriname also occupied the podium position with 11 points. Hosts Guyana, at that time, had accumulated 10 points and were in fifth place.
Noah Clarke claimed silver in the U16 competition
Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) President, Anand Raghunauth, during the simple ceremony shared congratulatory words with the event’s winners while also encouraging the Guyanese teams which missed the podium.
“I would like all the participants on playing in the spirit of CARICOM Nations. You would have won once you participated in this tournament. So, an excellent job well done. To our team and that is our ‘A’ team, ‘B’ team, ‘C’ team and our juniors, I think you would have learned quite a bit from tis experience and I take it that you would use this experience to go to the next level,” Raghunauth remarked.
The Caricom Chess Classic, which will now be a biennial tournament is expected to be hosted again in 2027.
