Jeremiah Farley won the Under 11 Scholastics Open chess championship last weekend at Harrison College in the city. Farley scored an impressive 5 ½ points from his 6 matches, to finish a half-point of the second-place finisher Charis Stuart over the two days of play.

Farley had struck the lead alone by the end of the first day as he had amassed the maximum of three points. Sitting in joints second, a half a point behind were Stuart and Ethan Alleyne, and based on their play, it was no doubt that the eventual winner of the event would come from one of this trio.

On day two of the event, in round four, Farley defeated Alleyne to maintain his lead, drew with Stuart in round 5, and won his round 6 game against Raef Clarke to secure victory. Stuart placed a commendable second with 5 points, while Alleyne settled for third with 4 ½ points.

Aaron Tash finished in clear fourth on three and a half points, while several players finished on three points in the middle of the field including Clarke, Dominic Cadogan, Theon Miller and Liam Neil. The girls played with the boys due to undersubscription, but Kalan Lovell was crowned girls champion after battling to two and a half points in a competitive overall field.

Noah Clarke won the Under 17 section of the event with three points from his four games. His elder brother Loki was second, while Leshay Springer won the girls Under 17.

Farley will be part of a team which heads off to El Salvador to compete in the 2024 Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess championships to be played from August 2 – 8. Other members of the team include Raef Clarke, Daisha- Rose Parris, Janiyah Browne, Sameera Jaikaran, Chaz Reifer-Belle, Darren Toppin, Jaeda Herbert, Aaron Jaikaran, Mileke Sinckler, Naomi Lewis, Noah Clarke, Chanon Reifer-Belle, Nathan Griffith, and Hannah Wilson. We wish them the best of luck. The players will be representing Barbados in the 12 age categories from Under 8 to Under 18 open and female.