If our junior chess players are to learn anything significant from the Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess Festival held recently in Port-of-Spain, it is that, generally speaking, they are still some distance from the top and getting there would require a more concerted effort in study and practice. The somewhat disappointing fact is that only one of our players was good enough to finish among the top places in the nine categories contested in the tournament held at Cascadia Hotel in St Ann’s.
That outstanding performance came from Rayden Rampersad who took second place among the 14 players in the Under-8 Absolute category. Rayden’s feat glittered as he finished the nine round event on eight points, the same as winner Carolina Ashley Vivas Espinoza of Venezuela who benefited from the tiebreak. Apart from Rayden, here is a list of our best performers.
Isaiah McIntosh placed fourth with six points among the 26 entries in the nine-round U-16 Absolute category. Winner of this group was Alejandro Rodriguez Nieto of the Dominican Republic who scored seven and a half.
Athena Martin with six points finished fourth among the 12 participants in the U-10 female group. She was two points behind the winner, WCM Maria Monica Mercado Pena.
CM Sean Yearwood and Reece Roopnarine both scored five and a half, placing fifth and sixth respectively among the 29 who competed in the U-12 Absolute grouping. The winner here was CM Santiago Avila Pavas of Colombia who scored eight points. Nine T&T players ended up among the bottom 13 in this category.
Sheldon Yearwood finished on five points to place fifth among the 18 who contested the U-10 Absolute category. Winner of this group was David Thomas of Jamaica on eight.
Amy Ali and Karissa Sonoo were both five pointers taking fourth and fifth spots among the 12 who comprised the U-14 Female group. Topping this category was Kathleen Tjong Tjin of Suriname on seven and a half.
Mikel Martin, scoring five and a half, placed seventh among the 28 players in the U-14 Absolute group. Finishing ahead of them was Mauricio Ramirez Gonzalez of Venezuela with seven and a half.
The largest and most keenly contested category, of course, was U-18 which drew a field of 33 players. Placing 12th and 13th were two of the country’s leading juniors, FM Joshua Johnson and Mahendra Singh who could muster only five points each. Winner of this group was FM Tabian Lopez Gonzalez with seven and a half.
While our performance could hardly be described as a disaster, still it was certainly below our expectations. After all, the largest international junior tournament held on home ground, comprising 170 players from 14 countries, must have been regarded as a wonderful challenge for our most talented youngsters. This was a testing opportunity for them to shine, but as a group they really didn’t. Indeed, as DR sees it, the most constructive lesson to be derived from our performance in this event is for us to be jolted out of our complaisance, to face the brutal fact that we still have a lot of work to do to make a serious impact on an event such as this.
Still, the tournament as a whole may be regarded as a successful affair; the hard work of the organising committee must be commended and the support it gained from its many sponsors and volunteer assistants was certainly commendable. But DR can only hope that the T&TCA post mortem to follow will not be a back-slapping affair, that the standard of our junior chessists will be recognised and a programme for improvement be seriously considered and implemented.
In this respect, the Association should be anxious to follow up on the promise made at the tournament’s opening ceremony by Shabaka Kambon, Communications Manager in the Ministry of Sport, who pledged the Ministry’s full support for efforts to develop the royal game.