Top-ranked Candidate Master (CM) Jaden Shaw and Amy Stephenson won the Absolute and Female sections of the 2023 National Junior Under-20 Championship, respectively.

At the end of the eight-round tournament, Shaw, of Wolmer’s Boys’, completed the Absolute section with a perfect 8.0 points and Stephenson, from Wolmer’s Girls’, captured the Female section with an impressive 7.5 points. Four rounds were played over the weekend of January 7 and 8. The remaining rounds were played the following weekend on January 14 and 15.

The National Junior Chess Championship is one of the most prestigious tournaments on the Jamaica Chess Federation’s calendar as it brings together some of the most promising younger players.

In a competitive field in the Absolute section, Shaw won from Nathan Hare of St Catherine High School, who had 5.5 points. Darren Mckennis, of Campion College, finished third on tie break, with 5.0 points, ahead of Kofi Sutherland, of St Jago High, who also had 5.0 points.

In the Female section, Stephenson dominated, followed by WCM Raehanna Brown (6.0 points), of Campion College, on tie break. National champion Gabriella Watson, of Immaculate Conception High, also had six points. Kaia Gayle of St Andrew High finished fourth with 5.5 points.

“I am very proud of [Jaden’s] accomplishment in now becoming a two-time Junior U-20 champion. Jaden has put in a lot of effort into his preparations and the results are richly deserved. Similarly, Amy Stephenson has been steadily improving from tournament to tournament and this is an outstanding result from one of Jamaica’s leading female junior players. They are both a part of Jamaica’s current outstanding junior chess talents,” said Jamaica Chess Federation chair of publications Richard Shaw.

The National Junior Chess Championship is a Swiss system event, with a time control of G/90 minutes with 30 second increment.