JAMAICA left it late but qualified for Division Three of the Online Chess Olympiad after entering the ninth and final round in fourth position, which was outside the top three required to move onto the main pool for the division, and set to be contested from August 7-9.

Jamaica had convincing wins over The Bahamas and Sierra Leone (forfeit) with 6-0 results; Aruba, Guyana and Bermuda 5-1; Sao Tome and Principe 4.5 -1.5; draws against Nicaragua and Honduras 3-3; while suffering their only loss to Caribbean neighbours Trinidad & Tobago 2-4. Nicaragua won the Group E over Honduras with Jamaica third.

Top performances for Jamaica came from Woman International Master Rachel Miller who went unbeaten in the nine games; Woman Candidate Master Raehanna Brown with an eight and one (win-loss) record; and Darren McKennis 4-2.

Winning Coach International Master Jomo Pitterson was happy the team qualified to Division Three and said the margin was so close, just 1.5 points on second tiebreak over Trinidad & Tobago, for the third qualifying spot for Group E.

Pitterson also shared his expectations for Division Three, during which he anticipates stiffer competition from European and Asian countries.

In fact, Jamaica was drawn in Pool D alongside the division’s number one seed Denmark, Mozambique, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

Jamaica’s team to the First Online Chess Olympiad includes Candidate Master (CM) Malik Curriah, CM Duane Rowe, CM Equitable Brown, Darren McKennis, John Stephenson, and Rushawn White, while the women’s team is led by Miller, Brown, Nickaylah Curwin, Alethia Edwards, Amy Stephenson, and Kaity Gayle.

The First Online Chess Olympiad is the second worldwide competition organised by FIDE after the recent Checkmate Coronavirus series.