Aayush Jain convincingly won the 20th staging of the Frederick Cameron Open Chess Tournament 2023 played on December 16 and 17 at Calabar High School. The six-round event was played in four sections: the Open section, U1600 Absolute, U1300 Absolute, and U1300 Female. The annual event is named in honour of Jamaica’s Hall of Fame recipient, former Jamaican International and Jamaica Chess Federation (JCF) treasurer and president, Frederick Cameron.

Ardenne High’s Jain won the Open section with 5.5 points from six games, the only blemish being a draw with rising star Angelus-Seren McDonald of St Catherine High.

John Stephenson (Wolmer’s Boys’ High), one of Jamaica’s outstanding juniors, was second with 5 points and Nathan Hare (Adult) was third on tie-break with 4 points. St Jago Nathaniel Hope also scored 4 points in finishing fourth.

The top female player in the Open section was Amy Stephenson, of Wolmer’s Girls High, who finished with 3.5 points.

The best U1600 Absolute player was Jaden Foreshaw (St Jago High) who won on tie-break with 5 points. Second went to Ronak Shergil (Campion College), who also had 5 points. Glory Murphy was third with 4.5 points, with Arena Candidate Master Christopher Davis finishing fourth with 4 points.

The U1300 Absolute section was a five-round event with Jeavoi Richards of Jamaica College emerging victorious with a perfect 5 points. On tie-break, Dedipya Sunkara (Campion College) finished ahead of Darren Murphy and Jordan Mantock (St Andrew Preparatory), all of whom had 4 points.

Abigal Taylor finished with 4.5 points out of five games to win the U1300 Female section. Je-Anne Bonnick (Immaculate Conception High) came second with 4 points and Nyah Wood placed third with 3.5 points.

Approximately 74 players took part in this event.

“It’s amazing that we have had 20 tournaments in my father’s honour. This final tournament of the chess year was another outstanding opportunity for players to benefit and improve their game, while enjoying playing chess. We look forward to an exciting 2024,” said the JCF chair of public relations and publicity, Candidate Master Mark Cameron.

The first open tournament for 2024 will be IA FM John Powell Memorial Open Chess Tournament, to be held on January 20 and 21.