One of Jamaica’s leading players FIDE Master (FM) Raheem Glaves won the 2022 Jamaica Open Chess Championship this past weekend with a perfect six points.

The six-round event, which was played on November 26 and 27, saw two-time Jamaica champion Candidate Master (CM) Andrew Mellace finishing second with an impressive 4.5 points, with third going to Odane Lodge from University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), who ended with 4.0 points.

The exciting U-1600 Intermediate section was won by Andrew Smart of The University of the West Indies (UWI), who had a perfect five points from five games. On tie-break, Aaron Mckoy from Harrison’s Preparatory School claimed second place with 4.5 points, followed by Sajay Mcintosh, who also had 4.5 points.

UTech’s Samuel Smith was fifth on tie-break, with four points, while Antonic Chung of Kingston College finished sixth, also with four points.

Jamaica Chess Federation (JCF) chair of publication Richard Shaw said: “This annual open national championship of chess is a prestigious event, where international participation is encouraged to test the skills of local participants. Congratulations to the winners.”

This tournament, with approximately 64 participants, is the most prestigious open tournament on the JCF calendar. Next up will be the Frederick Cameron Chess Open, the final chess tournament on the local calendar, to be played December 17 and 18.