With less than four rounds to go, FIDE Master (FM) Shreyas Smith and Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Adani Clarke are the clear leaders in the respective National Absolute and National Women’s Chess Championships held recently at Christar Villas Hotel.

After seven rounds of exhilarating play in the National Absolute Chess Championships, defending champion FM Smith is a point ahead of the field on six points and remains the only undefeated player in the 12-player field. His most recent victory came against National Master (NM) Ryan Blackwood in the sixth round while recording a draw in his seventh game against Candidate Master (CM) Kevin Merritt who managed to hold a difficult position in a complicated endgame.

FM Raheem Glaves, 2019 Player of the Year, along with FM Malaku Lorne closely follow FM Smith on five points each. After both players tied for second place in last year’s championship, FM Glaves recovered from his fifth-round loss against CM Malik Curriah with a victory against NM Blackwood, while FM Lorne stumbled in his seventh-round game against CM Stuart James.

In the remaining round-seven games, former National Champion CM Andrew Mellace crushed Jhustice-Dimonte Mcdonald before the 40th move, CM Curriah defeated the struggling CM Paul Brooks, who recorded his third-consecutive loss, and CM Akeem Brown blundered on his 24th move against CM Nathan Hinds before conceding 30 moves later.

Less than a month after successfully winning her fourth National Girls’ Junior title, WCM Clarke has a chance to create history by winning her first National Women’s Chess Championship title. After seven rounds of play, WCM Clarke is on an awe-inspiring 6.5 points with a 1.5-point lead going into the final two rounds. Her latest victories came against WCM Melisha Smith and WCM Margoe Williams, when she defeated both players in the endgame after outplaying them positionally during the middlegame.

Former National Girls’ Champion and long-time rival WCM Raehanna Brown currently trails WCM Clarke in second place on five points. WCM Brown defeated Nikita Austin in her most recent game with her only loss occurring in the fourth round against defending champion, WCM Annesha Smith.

The remaining matches saw WCM Annesha Smith defeat WCM Williams in a typical Slav defence, while the remaining matches between Amy Stephenson versus Nickaylah Curwin, and Ashanti Blackwood against Alliyah Yankana ended in quiet draws.

With the final rounds coming up this weekend at the Jamaica Olympic Association, the matches between FM Smith against FM Lorne and FM Glaves promise to be the most thrilling games of the Absolute Championship, while WCM Clarke faces WCM Brown in her final game of the Women’s Championship. The top three finishers in each National Championship will qualify to represent Jamaica at the 2020 Chess Olympiad, which is scheduled to be held between July 29 and August 17 in Moscow, Russia.

— David Rose