The individual age category youth chess championship events have started with great earnest last weekend as players put themselves in position to be selected for a number of regional events later this year.

At the halfway point of the 2023 Under 12 Open National chess championship, three players lead the event.

These are Aaron Jaikaran, Jaydon Howell, and Nathan Simmons-Patterson. They have won the first three of 6 games to jointly lead the 28-player field. In round three, Simmons-Patterson defeated Janiyah Browne, Howell defeated Savion Little and Jaikaran won from Andrew Tash-Turton. Lying in 4th and 5th position are Jonathan Griffith and Chaz Reifer-Belle, who have two and a half points, having won two games, and drawn their individual encounter.

Many players sit in spots 6 – 13 on two points. These include Browne, Little, Tash-Turton along with Charis Stuart, Shavis Regis, Jaeda Herbert, Kayla Culpepper and Scott Johnson. The Under 12 Female section is being played along with Open section as it was undersubscribed and Browne leads Herbert and Culpepper on tie-break.

In the Under 20 Open again being played alongside with the girls’ section due to undersubscription, 8 players are involved in an intense battle. Atter the said three rounds, Louis Wilson and Gaybrianna Moore share the lead with two and a half points having only drawn with each other. Shamar McClean and Christian Stuart-Jackman sit closely on their heels with 2 points each. The next round should be very interesting as Louis Wilson will have the white pieces against McClean and Stuart-Jackman will also have white against Moore.

In the Under 16 Open section Tarquin Clark and Kanye Williams share the lead with three points. Williams has looked in good form especially in defeating the second rank seed in the event Derick Boyce. Clark has also been doing the business and would have been pleased to get over another favorite Samuel Greenidge in an earlier match. When Williams and Clark clash in the fourth round, the result will be of utmost importance in determining the winner of the event.

Noah Clarke and Mileke Sinckler sit just off the pace in joint third place on two and a half points, each having both won two of their three games and drawn their head-to-head encounter. In a tie for 5th to 12th are Jakeb Barrow, Greenidge, Alexei Frederick, Zarek Greaves, Rhys Francis, Eden Gibson, Makalo Grant, Nathan Griffith and Nicholas Maxwell. Of the 26-player field it would be expected that the eventual winner would come from this group.

In the girls Under 16 section, 8 players are competing a keen event, and after 3 of the 7 rounds, Chanon Reifer-Belle and Tedra Gibson share the lead with three points. The event is being played as an 8 player round-robin where each individual player will play all the others.

Reifer-Belle caused an upset in the last round when she defeated current CAC Under 14 silver medalist Hannah Wilson. With this victory many pundits believe Reifer-Belle has paved her way to the title. However, Gibson has also stayed in contention by winning all her games and when she clashes with Reifer-Belle and Wilson this Saturday at Harrison College she might just upset the apple cart.

Wilson sits in joint third with Leshay Springer on two points. Springer’s only lost has been to Reifer-Belle.