Aaron Jaikaran of Harrison College is the new Under 13 Scholastics Chess Champion after winning the event from a field of two dozen players when the event was completed recently at the Crumpton Street, the city venue of the school.

It came down to the final round of the event as at that time. Jaikaran was co-leader of the event with Chaz Reifer-Belle with both players on four and a half points from five of their 6 games. However, two other players in the form of Andrew Tash – Turton and Savion Little sat just a half point adrift of the leaders on 4 points and with favorable results in the final round, any of these four players could become the champion.

In the final round the fate of the players would thus be in their own hands and the matchups would see Jaikaran against Tash-Turton and Little versus Reifer-Belle. It would be a case of which player would hold their nerves best and to the victors would go the spoils.

Jaikaran was the first to press his claim to the event as he easily gained the advantage over Tash-Turton and duly went on to win the game. However, it did not go to plan for the then co-leader Reifer-Belle. Little had moved the game into a complicated position and Reifer-Belle, under some pressure did not calculate accurately and found himself at the wanting end of a tactical melee. Little would then go on to claim a memorable victory leaving his younger opponent in tears.

With this result Jaikaran had finished first on 5 ½ points, Little had finished clear second on 5 points while Reifer-Belle came third with his 4 ½ points.

Jaeda Herbert and Kayla Culpepper will have to playoff for the Under 13 girls’ scholastic championships after both players scored a credible 3 points from their 6 matches. The girls had initially played with the boys due to low subscription. Makeda Fergusson finished in third place.

Sameera takes Under 9 Girls Scholastics

Another Jaikaran was able to clinch another Scholastics age category championship over the same weekend. It came in the form of Aaron’s younger sister, Sameera. In the Under 7 & 9 Open and Girls combined event, Sameera scored 5 points for a possible 6 to clinch her age category. Kymani Gale had a similar score and duly clinched the Under 9 Open scholastics.

Raef Clarke also scored 5 points in the combined section to win the Under 7 Open scholastics, while Nia Snow-Clarke won the Under 7 girls’ equivalent.