Quartet take home chess titles

Aaron Jaikaran is the new Under-13 Scholastics Chess champion after winning the event from a field of two dozen players when the event was completed recently at Harrison College over the weekend.

Heading into the sixth and final round of the event Jaikaran and Chaz Reifer-Belle were tied on four and a half points.

However, Andrew Tash-Turton and Savion Little were just a half point adrift of the leaders with a possible chance of being crowned champion.

The final round saw Jaikaran matched up against Tash-Turton and Little against Reifer-Belle.

Jaikaran was the first to press his claim for the title as he easily gained the advantage over Tash-Turton and duly went on to win the game.

However, it did not go to plan for Reifer-Belle.

Little moved the game into a complicated position and Reifer-Belle, under some pressure, did not calculate accurately and found himself at the wanting end of a tactical melee.

Little would then go on to claim a memorable victory leaving his younger opponent in tears.

With this result Jaikaran finished first on 5.5 points, Little took second on five points while Reifer-Belle came third with 4.5 points.

Jaeda Herbert and Kayla Culpepper will have to playoff for the Under-13 girls’ scholastic championships after both players scored a credible three points from their six matches. Makeda Fergusson finished in third place.

Meanwhile, Sameera Jaikaran, Aaron’s younger sister, clinched the Under-9 girls’ title.

In the Under 7 & 9 Open and girls’ combined event, Sameera scored five points out of a possible six to clinch her age category. Kymani Gale had a similar score and duly clinched the Under-9 Open scholastics.

Raef Clarke also scored five points in the combined section to win the Under-7 Open scholastics, while Nia Snow-Clarke won the Under-7 girls’ equivalent.

(PR)