AFTER a two-year absence from competitive chess, FIDE Master (FM) Warren Elliott returned to competitive play and won the National Chess Championships.

The 11-round chess championships took place at Chrystar Villas and Jamaica Olympic Association headquarters and featured 12 of Jamaica’s top chess players, including newly minted FIDE Master Damion Davy, defending champion NM Andrew Mellace and recent Olympiad players Malaku Lorne, Brandon Wilson and Daren Wisdom.

Going into the last round, Elliott led the field by a point. Any slip would have seen his closest competitor Damion Davy catching up and a tie-break forced. It was not to be, as Elliott finished with 10.5 points after a tense last-round victory over NM Andrew Mellace. This meant Elliott won his seventh hold on the title: a feat only equalled by FM Shane Matthews.

Finishing second on nine and a half points was FM Damion Davy, third was CM Malaku Lorne on eight points. Shreyas Smith and Brandon Wilson rounded off the top five on seven points each, with Andrew Mellace, six, Russell Porter, five and a half, Daren Wisdom, three and a half, Kevron Campbell, three and a half, Ian Wilkinson, three, Peter Myers, one and a half, and Melisha Smith on one, rounding out the field.