When the 2026 edition of the VEXX chess tournament was completed last weekend at the Wildey Gymnasium Mileke Sinckler and Nia Inniss won the two respective sections of the event on tie-break. Sinckler won the Fide rated section, while Inniss won the novice section.

Both sections were exciting events and came down to the last round for the eventual champions to be crowned.

In the Fide rated section, Loki Clarke had been the leader of the event coming into the last round with 5 ½ points from his 6 matches. He was half a point ahead of Sinckler but could afford no hiccups in this last round. He however was held to a draw by woman candidate master Kiarra Eversley in the last round. When Sinckler, then defeated Dr. Carlos Chase, it meant the tiebreaks would have to be used to separate the two top finishers. The two players, Clarke and Sinckler had drawn against each other in round 6, and thus the first tie-break was inconclusive. It’s thus that the second tie-break had to be used and Sinckler was declared the winner.

Woman Fide master Hannah Wilson finished in third as she defeated Charis Stuart in this last round to score 5 ½ points. She was followed in fourth by the veteran Othneil Harewood who won from Aidan Singh in the last round to finish on 5 points. Victories for Gaybrianna Moore and Amari Blackett in this final round also saw both players round out the top five positions in the 30-player field by finishing on 4 ½ points.

In the novice section, Nia Inniss took the victory also on the tie-break after she and Benjamin Farmer both finished on 6 points from their 7 games. Farmer had swept all and sundry before him to lead up to round 5, Inniss was however able to defeat him in their top of the field clash in round 6, and as they both won their respective games in round 7, Innis was declared the winner as she had defeated Farmer in their direct encounter.

Cairo Gajadhar completed the podium finishers as he finished third on 5 ½ points after defeating Jaeden Hutson in the last round. The dozen players in this field were very competitive will be looking to play in the Fide rated section next year.