Jamaica came out ahead of 14 other Caribbean countries to win the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess Championship in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Jamaica managed to lift the title at the recently concluded championship, seeing off the strength of host country, Trinidad and Tobago, and Cuba. The hosts secured second place with Cuba finishing in third place.

There were strong performances from all of Jamaica’s players, where several of them made podium finishes at the end of the six-day tournament, which had over 230 players from 15 countries across the region. Candidate Master (CM) Jaden Shaw blew away the field in the U16 Open section with a perfect nine out of nine points for the gold trophy.

He also earned his second norm towards becoming an International Master (IM). This means there is only one norm left for Shaw to become Jamaica’s third-ever International Master, after IM Jomo Pitterson and IM Shane Matthews.

Other noteworthy performers

WCM Raehanna Brown – Gold Under-18 Female on the podium, flanked by WFM Aliett Valdes Boza of Cuba and WCM Alexandra Ashley Castillo Beitia of Panama. Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Raehanna Brown won gold with seven points and two draws for a total of eight points.

She also gained a massive 60 rating points from the tournament towards this goal. This would make Brown the third woman in Jamaica’s history to achieve this title, after WIM Deborah Richards-Porter, and WIM Rachel Miller.

Another gold winning performer was Emilia Rose-Leake in the Under 10 female section. She had no losses and won her age group with a score of 8.5 out of nine points, while newcomer Rajvir Shergil came up one short in the U08 Open section with eight points overall.

She suffered only one loss to Bahamian Caerwyn Turnquest in the sixth round. Shergil, who entered the tournament unrated, will now qualify for the Candidate Master title subject to achievement of a rating of 2000.

Other noteworthy performances came from Gabriella Watson in the Under 16 female section, Aaron McKoy in the Under 12 Open section, and Dayna-Simone Swasey and Leah Logan in the Under 08 female section.