The Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs has pledged its support for the T&T Chess Association's efforts to develop the sport "even in these difficult financial times." This was the message delivered by Dave Bobb, director of sports, when he addressed a media conference at the Ministry on Monday. The jointly organised event was held to highlight achievements of the country's youngsters at the Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess Championship held in Puerto Rico earlier this month. T&T's representatives gained a total of seven medals, including one gold, two silver and four bronze. This was the second highest number of medals won at the tournament; the leader being host country Puerto Rico which fielded the largest number of players. Other nations taking part were T&T, Barbados, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, Panama and the US Virgin Islands.
Bobb described the success of T&T's players as "fantastic". He said at a time when young people had acquired "a negative stigma", the Chess Association was doing a good job in keeping so many focused on a game such as chess. The director of sports urged medal winners to reach for "higher heights" but noted that, in this endeavour, the race was not for the swiftest but "for those who endure". He looked forward to "even greater things" in 2012. T&T's newest and youngest chess star, ten-year-old Della Marie Walcott, turned CAC silver into gold when she defeated all her five competitors in Puerto Rico. By this performance, the Maria Regina Grade School student eclipsed the second place she secured at the ÇAC tournament in Panama in 2009.
Walcott's achievement fulfils the promise she has shown as the national Under 8 champion two years running and as the current Under 10 titleholder. The tournament was a hard one, the petite youngster told Double Rooks. She had particularly difficult games against the Çolombian and Honduran players but managed to come out on top. Although she plays the game with her brother Alex at home, Della Marie credits the coaching of Alex Winter-Roach, national qualifier, for much of the progress she has made. Brother and sister pair of Joshua and Gabriela Johnson also confirmed their prominence in local tournaments by bringing home silver medals. Joshua, Boys Under-12 champion, was denied gold by just half a point, finishing a close second to Venezuelan Juan Marquez who scored six and a half. The two topped an open Under-12 field of 16 players.
Gabriela, female Under-12 national champion, had the best performance among T&T's girls. She scored three out of five points to place second to Danitza Vazquez of Puerto Rico in the Girls Under-12 section with five players contesting. Bronze medallist Alpacino Smith, playing in the Open Under-18 group, did relatively well to finish the seven-round event with four and a half points, placing him third among the field of 12 players. Winner was WFM Jo Ann Alvarez of Puerto Rico who scored five and a half. T&T's youngest competitor, Sean Yearwood, T&T's Under 8 champion, also won bronze in Puerto Rico by gaining five out of seven points in the Boys Under-8 category. Other Bronze medallists were Najarah Rahaman of South East Port-of-Spain, playing in the Girls Under-14 group, and Amba De Silva of Balmain Presbyterian contesting in the Girls Under-10 category.
T&T Chess Association president Kamla Rampersad De Silva thanked the Director of Sports and Natasha Nunez of the Ministry for co-hosting the event. She also thanked sponsors who assisted the players in travelling to Puerto Rico and the parents who, she said, played a fundamental role by their involvement in the trip. The Association, in a statement issued at the media event, noted that the executive's objective "is not only to make Trinidad and Tobago the number one country for chess in the English speaking Caribbean but also to reach the top of our subzone and to be consistently ranked among the 100 countries."
