FIDE Master (FM) Frank Yee and Woman National Master (WNM) Aditi Soondarsingh, were the top male and female chess players for the year, capturing the national championship titles in November.
Yee, who has been knocking at the door for over a decade, finally landed the nation's most prestigious title as he upset two former national chess champions, sealing victory in a close finish at the 11-round round-robin National Championship Finals at St George's College in Barataria.
An upset win by Dev Soondarsingh over defending champion Ryan Harper in the tenth round turned things in Yee's favour. In second place was Marcus Joseph, with Harper finishing in third spot. Harper, who defeated grandmaster Oscar de la Riva Aguado of Andorra at the World Olympiad in August in Turkey, was the leading player until his defeat at the hands of Soondarsingh.
Aditi Soondarsingh, an engineering student at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, was the most outstanding local female player at the August World Chess Olympiad in Turkey where she played on boards 1 and 2, scoring four wins. It was on the top board that she scored one of the biggest wins of her career, defeating Woman International Master (WIM) Iman Al-Rufaye of Iraq.
Soondarsingh became the first T&T female to win against a WIM. She followed this up with a successful defence of her national female title, playing unbeaten among the ten finalists. This was the eighth time she has won the coveted title. Javanna Smith placed second with Jane Kennedy third.
Among the juniors Joshua Johnson was easily the most outstanding male. Johnson had little difficulty winning the National Under-14 title and he sprung a surprise to win the National
Junior/Under-20 title from favourite Vishnu Singh, who placed second and Jayson Paul who was third. Young Johnson then went on to qualify for the National Finals where he again surprised many to place fourth among the seniors. Johnson won the Under-16 category in the inaugural CARIFTA tournament over the Easter weekend and claimed a silver medal at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Junior Chess Championships held in Puerto Rico from December 13-16.
However, among the girls, Female National Under-10 champion, Shemilah James, snatched the number one spot at the last minute when she won the only gold medal for T&T at the CAC Championships. James, who was accompanied by her coach Bhisham Soondarsingh, won the gold medal in the Female Under-10 category. She finished on 4.5 points with a notable draw against Candidate Master (CM) Christopher Vazquez of Puerto Rico.
Highlights
National Qualifier-1 North Zone, Paladins Chess Club -Esan Wiltshire, Marcus Joseph, Frank Yee;
National Qualifier-2 East Zone, Kings & Queens Chess Club -Joshua Johnson, Dev Soondarsingh, Cecil Lee
National Qualifier- 3 South Zone, Southern Chess Club -Kevin Cupid, Roderick Noel, Hayden Lee
National Qualifier-3 Tobago Zone -Frank Sears, Tuku Moheni (replaced Keron Cabralis who withdrew)
National Finals -1st Frank Yee, 2nd Marcus Joseph, 3rd Ryan Harper
Women
-1st Aditi Soondarsingh, 2nd Javanna Smith, 3rd Jane Kennedy;
T&T International Open (alongside CARIFTA Junior)
-1st Ryan Harper, 2nd Mario Merritt, 3rd Marcus Joseph;
Knights Chess Club Open
-1st Frank Yee, 2nd Marcus Joseph; Andrew Bowles, Sean Perryman
Paladins Chess Club Open;
-1st Ryan Harper, 2nd Vishnu Singh, 3rd Allan Munro
De Verteuil Memorial Open -1st Ryan Harper, 2nd Marcus Joseph
Southern Chess Club Open -1st Hayden Lee
National Junior/Under-20
-1st Joshua Johnson, 2nd Vishnu Singh, 3rd Jayson Paul
First Citizens Primary Schools Championship
-1st Maria Regina, Holy Name Prep. (PoS), St Ursula's Girls' Anglican
First Citizens Secondary Schools Championship
-1st Presentation College (Chag.) 2nd Fatima College
CAC–Puerto Rico
-Shemilah James–Gold–Under-10 Girls
-Joshua Johnson–Silver–Under-14 Boys
-Javanna Smith–Bronze–Under-16 Girls
-Tyler-Marie Mungal–Bronze–Under-14 Girls
-Shannon Yearwood–Bronze–Under-12 Girls
-Sean Yearwood–Bronze–Under-10 Boys.
