DEFENDING All-Island champions St Jago High, continued their perfect run at the PCJ Group National Schools Chess Championships, beating Charlemont High to reach the rural area final.

The Jago team of Joshua Christie, Michael Christie, Akeem Brown and National Master Alistair Walker whipped Charlemont 4-0 in the semi-finals of the competition held recently at the PCJ Auditorium in New Kingston.

The victory has kept the reigning champions on course to defend their rural and national titles.

St Jago will now do battle with Glenmuir, who posted a 4-0 win over St Catherine High in their semi-finals.

St Catherine High had to forfeit their first game when the cellphone of a player went off during the match. The loss set the tone for the rest of the competition and Glenmuir’s team of Jordan Williams, Keijon Dennis, Wayne March and Andryck Rodgers emerged victorious.

In the Corporate Area semi-finals, Ardenne High had Jamaica College (JC) seeing the blues. Ardenne’s team of Joshua Orgille, Horace Sinclair, Srinivasan Chokalingan and Leighton Barrett delivered a 4-0 spanking to book their place in the final.

Ardenne now have a date with Calabar, who survived a scare from upstarts Campion B. The dark horses looked set to create one of the biggest upsets in local schools chess history, when they were poised to beat Calabar 2.5 to 1.5.

However, Calabar’s team of Dwayne Campbell, Malik Curriah, Obrian Johnson and National Master Shreyas Smith drew on their experience to claw their way back into the match and eventually pull off a 3-1 win.

The Rural and Corporate Area finals of the PCJ National Schools Chess Championships are scheduled for Wednesday March 11 at the PCJ Auditorium in New Kingston.

Winners of the regional finals will then vie for the All-Island title on Thursday, March 19. At stake is the PCJ Championship Trophy and prizes valued at over $300,000, including the top prize of $150,000 cash from the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) and its subsidiary, Petrojam.