By far, the greatest female chess player the English-speaking Caribbean has ever produced, Woman International Master (WIM) Deborah Richards Porter continues to make her mark, not only as a player but also as coach, working to grow the female chess-playing community and develop Jamaica’s players for strong performances on the international stage.

As one of her many activities aimed at developing the sport in Jamaica, she started an annual, women only chess tournament several years ago —the Deborah Richards Porter or DRP Women’s Chess Festival. For the last two years, the tournament has been run under the auspices of the Jamaica Chess Federation (JCF).

The 2017 staging of the DRP Women’s Chess Festival saw many new faces and further achievements by some of the top-rated females in the island, over six rounds at the Campion College auditorium earlier this month.

In the FIDE Open section, Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Melisha Smith took home the first-place trophy with five points, bettering her performance last year when she tied for second. Second place was shared by WCM Annesha Smith, Raehanna Brown and Alliyah Yankana, each of whom ended on four points.

In the merged university and high school section, 13-year-old Jada Gill came out on top on tiebreak over UWI student Peta-Gay Walker, after both players ended on five points.

In the merged Under-12 and Under-10 section, Arielle McKoy took pole position with a perfect six points.

The Under-8 winner was Seanna Palmer, who ended on five points, edging out Jamaica’s Under-8 Female National Champion, WCM Zaina O’Connor.

WIM Richards Porter was pleased with the event. “I am particularly pleased with the turnout, considering the last-minute changes we had to make. We had more than 60 girls registered from more than 20 schools, and all in all the venture was a success,” she said.

While the ratio of men to women playing chess in Jamaica (and across the world) is still unbalanced, the JCF’s Chair of Women’s Chess Listra Clemetson, reports that “female participation in tournaments has clearly grown over the last five years… we see more girls at tournaments than ever, and our ladies compete with the men at the highest levels”.

She added. “Adding the WIM DRP Women’s Chess Festival to the JCF’s chess tournament calendar checks many boxes for us in terms of showing our commitment to the growth of female chess and providing well-deserved recognition to the highest-rated female in Jamaica — in fact, in the entire English-speaking Caribbean!”

The WIM DRP Women’s Chess Festival was made possible through the support of R&D Chess Academy, Emkay Sports and Trophies and Campion College.