Jamaicans dominated the final day of competition at the first Regional Youth Online Chess Championships (Under-18) hosted by Trinidad & Tobago.

In the gold medal game, National Under-14 champion Darren McKennis defeated compatriot Jaden Shaw 5-3 in an entertaining final. With Shaw trailing 3-4 and pressing to send the finals into extra time, McKennis kept his composure to win that game and the gold for Jamaica.

John Stephenson rebounded from his semi-final defeat to Shaw with a workmanlike extra-time victory over Virgil Kartodikromo of Suriname for the bronze medal.

McKennis said he was happy as both his semi-final and final opponents pushed him to the finish in closely contested games. Winning coach and Jamaica Chess Federation executive member, International Master Jomo Pitterson, was pleased with the overall results and shared that the future of Jamaica’s chess is looking good as the country is producing some top juniors who will continue to improve with sustained training and exposure to top-class competition.

Jamaica’s Woman Candidate Master Raehanna Brown took the award for top female having reached the quarter-finals where she fell to Virgil Kartodikromo, while 11-year-old Rohit Mahtani was the top Under-12 competitor.

One hundred and seventy-three competitors from 13 Caribbean and Central American countries participated in the championships from June 13-17, 2020, which saw Shaw topping the qualifiers to the round of 16.

This event was a part of the World Chess Federation’s (FIDE) worldwide chess initiative, “Checkmate Coronavirus “.