St Jago ‘A’, Wolmer’s Girls are online National High School Rapid Chess champions
St Jago High School ‘A’ and Wolmer’s Girls are the inaugural champions of the newly created Online National High School Rapid Chess Championships.
The Championships, which were split into two sections and completed over three days starting on August 2-3 and concluding with the finals on August 5, were contested by 40 teams from 25 high schools across Jamaica, with over 150 participants.
After the first two days of intense competition and 11 preliminary rounds, the Open section saw St Jago High School ‘A’, Wolmer’s Boys’ ‘A’, Campion College ‘A’ and Ardenne High School ‘A’ qualifying for the four-team finals.
On the final day, the top four teams battled it out over the board at the Liberty Academy. St Jago ‘A’, the 11-time National Champions (of the over-the-board format) did not disappoint, with an unbeaten run in the finals, only drawing with Campion College ‘A’, they claimed the title of the first-ever online event. Campion College ‘A’ finished second and Wolmer’s Boys’ ‘A’, third.
Fide Master (FM) Joshua Christie of St Jago High School was named board one champion, Nathan Hare of Johnathan Grant High School, board two champion, McNamee Shelson of Glenmuir High School, board three champion and Shaheem Richards of St Catherine High school, board four champion.
St Jago High School ‘A’ was the top rural school while Campion College ‘A’ the top urban school.
In the High School Girls Championship, Wolmer’s Girls led by Amy Stephenson finished atop the standings ahead of Immaculate Conception High School who took second place, Holy Childhood third and Mount Alvernia fourth.
With the success of the Championships, the Jamaica Chess Federation has taken a decision to keep this format of the competition on its annual calendar. Online play will allow a number of rural schools that have had challenges with resources to travel to keep competing annually in the high schools’ competitions.
The event, which was sponsored by the Jamaica Chess Federation with the support of the World Chess Federation, FIDE, saw the removal of all registration and membership fees for the participating teams, as part of the effort to grow the sport, notwithstanding the novel coronavirus pandemic.
