Over the last weekend Barbados crowned a new Under 12 Open chess champion in the form of the enthusiastic Jonathan Griffith of Gordon Walters Primary.

Griffith put in an impressive second day performance to win all three of his games and finish in sole first with 5 ½ points from a possible 6. Griffith started the day in joint fourth place but defeated Janiyah Browne in the round four, to move in to second behind the then unbeaten leader Aaron Jaikaran of Harrison College. In round 5, in the top of the table clash, many would have fancied Jaikaran the current Under 13 champion, would have triumphed over his slightly lesser experienced opponent, but Griffith was unyielding in his approach and eventually it was Jaikaran who succumbed to the pressure. He dropped a piece at a critical stage of the game, to which Griffith capitalized and eventually won the game. Griffith then had to just stay the course in his final round game against Savion Little and when he won this game, no one could control the ecstatic emotions of Griffith as he had now captured his first age category championship win.

Jaikaraon edged out Andrew Tash Turton into second place on five points. Jaikaran had defeated Chaz Reifer-Belle and Tash Turton had won from Xavi Armstrong in the last round. Little led a cadre of players on 4 points to share 4^th to 9^th which also included Jayden Howell, Nathan Simmons-Patterson, Jaeda Herbert and Scott Johnson.

Herbert wins Girls Under 12

With a commendable four points Jaeda Herbert captured the girls Under 12 Championship to also capture the championship. The females participated in the Open section as they were undersubscribed but Jaeda showed she was not disadvantaged as she recorded 4 points to finish in the top third of the 28 player field. Her last round victory against Charis Stuart was enough to propel her into sole first. Finishing in second place was Janiyah Browne and Kayla Culpepper in third. Both players finished on three points.

Wilson and Moore capture Under 20 Titles

At the other end of the age spectrum, Louis Wilson on Queens College won the Under 20 Open championship with 5 ½ points from 6 games having only conceded a draw to the eventual girls champion Gaybrianna Moore of Community College. In a small field both sexes competed together, and Jamani Bowen finished second in the Open section with 3 points ahead of Shamar McClean (third) and Christian Stuart-jackman on tie-break. Analissa Arjune finished second in the girls’ section.