Candidate Master (CM) Jhustice-Dimonte McDonald won the Open section of the John Powell Open Chess tournament contested over two days, on March 7 and 8. McDonald was closely followed by a three-way tie for second, with FM Raheem Glaves finishing ahead of J-Loy Chin with CM Nathaniel Hope and Jayden Foreshaw rounding out the top five places on tie-break despite being tied with Corbin Harvey on 4 points. WCM Kaia Gayle was the top female in the Open section.

In the U1800 section, Samuel Smith won on tie-break from Vaishnav Gali with Luke Wright taking third place, Johnathan Brown, fourth and Ajay Tennant fifth; again the latter three places determined by tie-break. Emilia-Rose Leake, Rhea Gardener and Kayla Moses were the top three female finishers in the section.

In the U1500 Absolute section, Jordan Robinson won from Kaie Chambers with third to seventh places determined by tie breaks, Raheem Gayle third, Jevar Brooks fourth and Kamar Davidson rounding out the top five places.

In the U1500 Female section, Kelly Williamson won, while second to fifth places were determined by tiebreaks. Amaris Solomon was second, Zoe Elliott took third place, Dina Dudnikova was fourth and Je Nasiya Mais rounded out the top five places.

The John Powell Chess Open is an annual Jamaica Chess Federation tournament named in honour of a man who served as secretary and president of the Jamaica Chess Federation on two occasions. He was also a FIDE Arbiter. The 2026 edition was contested by 108 participants in four sections.