The first round of the bat­tle for the 2013 na­tion­al chess cham­pi­onship is over with 14-year-old star Joshua John­son and vet­er­ans FM Mario Mer­ritt and Leonard Dun­can qual­i­fy­ing to con­test the fi­nals.

The three topped the field of 27 play­ers who con­test­ed the first of four pre­lim­i­nary events played over the last two weeks at St George's Col­lege, Barataria.

John­son and Mer­rit fin­ished the sev­en round event on five-and-a-half points each, with Mer­ritt tak­ing first place via the tie-break. Dun­can end­ed just half a point be­hind them. Tal­ent­ed young­ster Kevin Cu­pid and NM Ce­cil Lee al­so scored five points each but had to give way to Dun­can on the tie-break.

Hay­den Lee, Dev Soon­dars­ingh and Keevin James al­so had a good tour­na­ment, fin­ish­ing on four-and-a-half points each.

With this vic­to­ry, Mer­ritt may well have set a record for the num­ber of times he has qual­i­fied to con­test the na­tion­al fi­nals. It seems iron­ic, how­ev­er, that while he has won al­most every open tour­na­ment in the T&T chess are­na dur­ing his long ca­reer, he is yet to take home the na­tion­al cham­pi­onship ti­tle.

Fa­ti­ma Col­lege stu­dent John­son en­hances his sta­tus as the na­tion­al ju­nior cham­pi­on by en­ter­ing the na­tion­al fi­nals for the third con­sec­u­tive year. John­son's im­pres­sive achieve­ments in tour­na­ments at home and abroad has made him the coun­try's fastest-ris­ing chess star and may well place him as an ear­ly can­di­date in an­oth­er race, the one to pro­duce the coun­try's first in­ter­na­tion­al mas­ter.

Three years ago, John­son made his­to­ry by be­com­ing the youngest play­er to en­ter the na­tion­al fi­nals and to win the un­der-20 na­tion­al ti­tle. Al­so in 2010, he added an­oth­er three vic­to­ries to his haul of tro­phies: first place in the Uma­da Cup among play­ers rat­ed un­der 1900, first place in the un­der-14 sec­tion of the In­ter­na­tion­al Caribbean Chess Car­ni­val plus the Na­tion­al Un­der-12 cham­pi­onship.

Leon­dard Dun­can is a durable vet­er­an who has kept his for­mi­da­ble chess skills in­tact over more than two decades. He has con­test­ed the na­tion­al fi­nals on sev­er­al oc­ca­sions and has been a top fin­ish­er in many open tour­na­ments.