Wilson in fourth, while Jaikaran and Gonsalves clinch local chess events

Aaron Jaikaran won the rated section of the 2025 VEX chess tournament, while Maximus Gonsalves captured the novice section as the action in the event wrapped up earlier in the week.

 

Jaikaran eked out a narrow victory on tie-break as he finished on 6 ½ points from his 7 games, which was the same as Savion Little. However, using the second tie-break as they had drawn their direct encounter, saw Jaikaran coming out ahead by the slimmest of margins.

 

It all came down to an exciting last round where both Aaron Jaikaran and Little were the two players in contention for the overall tournament victory. Jaikaran faced off against national female player Leshay Springer, while Little was matched against Sameera Jaikaran, Aaron’s younger sister. Aaron was able to subdue Springer relatively easily but Little had to put in overtime against Sameera to ensure victory and after both leaders had won, it was down to the tie-break system which favored Aaron.

 

Charis Stuart finished in clear third position on 5 points after winning his last round game against Chaz Reifer-Belle.

Stuart finished a point ahead of a group of players on 4 points which included Cyprian LaTouche, Jacob Benajamin-Layson and Caleb Latchman, players who all won their final games.

 

In the Novice section Maximus Gonsalves scored an impressive 6 points from his 7 games to claim a clear victory.

Maximus finished a point above Dominic Cadogan whom he had initially lost to in round 1. He then won 6 games in a row to claim a memorable victory. Cadogan finished in second on 5 points , ahead of Ethan John- Clement who finished third on 4 points in the almost dozen player field in this section.

 

Woman FIDE master continues her progress in the 2025 Pan American School Under 17 female section being played in Brazil. In her last day’s matches, she had contrasting results. In the morning round, she defeated Consuelo Villegas Ampuero of Chile, but then fell to defeat to Fiorella Allegra Mayeregger Gonzalez of Paraguay in the evening round, the current leader of the event. This has left Wilson with 3 ½ points from her 6 games and sitting in fourth position, a half point behind the third-place player. She will need to finish strong in her last three matches to ensure a medal position.