Aaron Jaikaran of Harrison College was crowned the National Scholastics Under- 13 Open chess champion of Barbados when the event was completed recently at the St. Michael School.
Jaikaran defeated Nathan Reid in the last round of the event, to edge home on the first tie-break which was the result of the direct encounter between players who finished on the same number of points. Both players had finished on five points from six games.
Reid had looked impressive throughout the event as he had defeated more fancied opponents like Eden Gibson and Samuel Greenidge of Queen’s College in rounds 4 and 5. Reid went into the final round with the sole lead on five points, and once he had avoided defeat to Jaikaran, he would have clinched his first national title.
However, Jaikaran who had suffered an upset at the hands of Deryck Boyce in round two, was the player who was always pressing during the high intensity match. Reid attempted to trade off the major pieces in an attempt to reach a draw. He however fell to a tactical shot that gave Jaikaran an advantage of a superior piece ending, which Jaikaran duly converted.
This result thus gave Jaikaran a well-deserved title to add to his Under 11 scholastic title that he had won earlier in the year.
Reid should be proud of his second-place finish in his first major event and seems a talented player with a good temperament. Eden Gibson finished in third on 4 ½ points, while Samuel Greenridge finished fourth, ahead on tie-break on 4 points, ahead of Alexi Frederick and Liam Yearwood.
Almost two dozen players made this event an exciting and memorable event. (KD)
