National Master Malaku Lorne (right) walked away with the gold medal after scoring 7.5 points from nine games.

Jamaican National Master Malaku Lorne won the New Providence Invitational Chess Tournament hosted by the Bahamas Chess Federation, which concluded at the Casuarinas Hotel last Thursday.

Lorne, who is currently a student at the University of the West Indies, Mona, finished atop the standings with seven-and-a-half points, closely followed by Martyn Del Castilho of Barbados on seven points and another Jamaican, Daren Wisdom, and Bahamian Frank Gibson tied for third with five-and-a-half points each.

The Invitational event was the first tournament held in the Bahamas to be rated by FIDE, the World Governing body for Chess.

It also signalled the re-entry of Bahamas on the international chess stage, as they were one of only two countries in the region without internationally rated players, the other country is Belize. All the Bahamian players in the tournament were able to earn an international rating.

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