Joint Blitz champions

Claire Clarke, Contributor

Volume 1. No.31

It was a tie that ended the National Blitz Championships held last Saturday, along with the Jamaica Chess Federation's 44th Annual General Meeting at the Shirley Retreat Hotel in Kingston.

Top honours were shared between defending champion FIDE Master Warren Elliot and National Master Malaku Lorne.

FM Elliot was sharing this title after five years of consecutive dominance.

This shorter and exciting version of the game saw the return of NM Lorne, who seems set to return to frequent participation in chess tourneys.

After his outing in the National championships in April.

Also sporting a return to competitive chess is super veteran NM Robert Wheeler.

Both NM Lorne and NM Wheeler often find themselves stuck in the administration chair as arbiters of tournaments in recent years, which has stymied their active play. NM Wheeler is Jamaica's only FIDE-certified arbiter.

NM Lorne's end on 5.5 points included victories against potent players such as NMs Russel Porter and Geoffrey Byfield. FM Elliot put to sleep talents such as NMs Wheeler and 2012 National Champion Mellace.

NM Lorne and NM Elliot did meet in the fourth round and their encounter ended in a draw - which made a tie break between the two difficult, though not impossible to determine.

Third place went to medical student Zachray Ramsay who ended on five points.

The top female prize went to Women's FIDE Master Deborah Porter, who finished with four points. The top junior title went to Ardenne High's Horace Sinclair.

Other sectional prizes were given for age-group performances. Nathan Walsh won was atop of the field for the under-8, 10, and 12 categories and John Lord won the under-14 prize.

It is not a major election year for the JCF so only basic housekeeping issues were addressed at the 44th AGM.

The president's report was delivered by vice-president Peter Myers in the absence of president Ian Wilkinson who was attending a sitting of the Ethics Commission for the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Upcoming tournaments

July 7 and 8: The St Jago Chess Open 2012 at the St Jago High School details on web site chess.stjago.com

Email feedback, send in your games or upcoming tournaments to yourchessmate@yahoo.com and join the facebook page chessmate. Claire Clarke is a former Women's National Champion, three time Jamaica Women's team Chess Olympiad representative, trained journalist and editor.