Johnson siblings dominate national chess meets

SIBLINGS JOSHUA and Chaya Johnson captured back-to-back male and female national chess titles respectively, at the Blitz tournament (in October) and the Rapid tournaments (in December).

Joshua, an FIDE master (FM), topped the field in both competitions, finishing on six points in the Blitz to capture his sixth national title, and seven points in the Rapid.

FM Kevin Cupid also finished on six points in the former but Joshua emerged overall winner. Coming in third was FM Quinn on 5.5 points.

Chaya also prevailed in the female division while Amir Mahadeo copped the junior prize.

The Blitz was a seven-round Swiss event which featured 23 participants.

In the Rapid, another seven-round event with 31 players, Johnson was crowned champion ahead of Hayden Lee (six points) and Kevin Cupid (5.5 points).

Additionally, there was a three-way tie for the females on most points and a blitz round-robin tournament was initiated to decide the winner. Chaya, again, won the contest with Adaya Johnson and Kayla Martin rounding off the top three respectively.

These results mean Joshua, Lee, Chaya and Adaya would represent TT in the forthcoming Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in January.

Also, in the Swiss Championships, in October, at Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s, FM Ryan Harper woman candidate master (WCM) Obdulius Hermoso Joel won the male and female absolute divisions.

Harper played unbeaten, earned eight points, while Cupid and Quinn Cabralis (both of 7.5 points) completed the top three.

After a very close battle at the top in the absolute section, the ninth round was used to determine the final outcome.

The women’s division saw Joel (seven points) beat WCM Shemilah James (six points) and Aradhana Ramnarine Singh (4.5 points), in that order.

TT Chess Association president Sonja Johnson was pleased with these 2022 closing events and said, “It’s wonderful that we are able to execute on almost all of our over the board events in 2022. The players are also happy to be back playing and engaging in the warm spirit that we are accustomed to in Chess! We congratulate all the players and wish them continued success.”

The date and time for the official prize giving will be 2023 at a date to be advised.