Leake shines at Online N’tl Age Group Chess Champs

Nearly 200 players from 50 schools across Jamaica competed in the first-ever Online National Age Group Chess championships, which ended on July 4.

The titles up for grabs were the national under-8, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16, and under-18 champions for both boys and girls.

The event crowned a number of surprise winners and names to look out for; while a few top players retained their titles.

The under-8 section was merged and for the first time in the history of the event, the absolute champion was a girl.

Young Emilia-Rose Leake of Creative Kids Learning Academy finished with a perfect score on the first day and repeated it on the final day to achieve the title of national under-8 chess champion for both absolute and female. Second and third places went to Raheem Gayle on five points, and Austin Xiang on four points. The female section saw second place going to Esther Mullings on four points, and third place to Dayna-Simone Swasey on three points.

Ronak Shergil of Porter Center for Knowledge won the under-10 absolute section with 4.5 points, ahead of Tahir Tavares on 3.5 points, and Liam Logan on three points. Hillel Academy’s Victoria Salazar blazed to victory in the under-10 female section with four points. Second and third places went to Meghalaya Haughton-Pathaw and Victoria Aung with three points each.

TENSE AFFAIR

The under-12 absolute section was a tense affair with top seed Najae Powell tying for first with Corbin Harvey, both on four points. Powell went on to win the blitz play-off for the title of under-12 champion. In third position was last year’s under-12 champion Jaheim Smart.

The under-12 female section saw the return of Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Zaina O’Connor, now attending Meadowbrook High School, who amassed an unbeatable 4.5 points. Followed closely in second place was Kaia Gayle on 3.5 points and Niara McLeod on three points.

Jaden Shaw of Wolmer’s Boys’ School continued his recent impressive results to win the under-14 absolute section on 4.5 points. Rohit Mahtani was second on 3.5 points and J-Loy Chin third with three points.

Immaculate Conception High School student Gabriella Watson was the only other with a perfect-score result, scoring six points on the first day and five points in the final to secure the under- 14 female title. Ruthan Collins ended with three points and Suraiya Matandara-Clarke got 2.5 points to finish third.

Another truly remarkable result was that of Campion College’s Raehanna Brown. She walked away with the under-16 absolute and female titles, as both sections were merged. Scoring an unbeatable four points on the final day cemented her as the third female ever in Jamaica to win an absolute title in the championships. Damari Bryce finished with three points to secure second place, while the top-rated Daren McKennis ended with 2.5 points.

“It is amazing that we could continue this prestigious chess championship online, given the various restrictions caused by COVID-19,” organising committee member Warren Elliott said. “The numbers make this event the largest online event in Jamaica, and we are certainly happy to see so many of our youth engaging in this intellectual sport.”