Zara La Fleur and Jonathan Ramdass were among the top six performers for T&T at the Pan American Youth Chess Festival which were played two venues - the bmobile box at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair, Port-of-Spain and Naparima College, San Fernando from September 4-10.
The event consisted of nine rounds of play and the T&T Chess Association (TTCA) was one of 15 Federations that participated in the first-ever Youth Chess Festival which was held in a hybrid format. The event was organised by the Brazilian Chess Federation and allowed players to participate from neutral venues across the Americas using their laptops/computers to compete against other players in the age groups, Under-6 to U-18.
La Fleur excelled in the U-16 girls' category while Ramdass shined in the U-14 Open with each scoring four points. The others performing well were Kael Samuel Bisnath (4.5 pts) and Zachary Murray (4 pts) in the U-12 Open category, Juninho La Fleur (4.5 pts) in the U-14 Open, and Ne’yah Martin (4 pts) in the U-8 girls' division.
TTCA president, Sonja Johnson, was very happy with how the event unfolded, saying: "I am thrilled that we were able to still facilitate such an event at these times given the constraints including the curfew. Additionally, many of the children had to participate after school and still showed up for their games and gave it their all, even though this is the first time they were playing a classic event online.
"This is testimony of their dedication and the commitment from their parents to ensuring that they remain active in chess.”
T&T fielded 24 players in the inaugural competition in seven categories. A few players also participated in Online Rapid and Blitz events which took place fully online on the weekend (September 11 and 12).
The other local participants were Keira Samuel Bisnath and Kayla Martin in the U-18 category, Keagan Ragoobar and Keshav Maharaj in the U-16s, Aradhana Ramnarine-Singh, Chandresh Prabhakar, Joshua Medina, Yuri Mahabir, Syon Mano, James Gillette and Joshua Martin in the U-14 category, Vandina Maharaj, Raquel Laing, Luke Gillette and Christopher Sammy in the U-12 division, Jahymes Grant (U-6), Adrian Allum (U-8) and Adaya Johnson (U-10).
Officials/team members Sandy Razark, Daryl Davis, Frank Sears, Keelan Hunte, David Martin, Andrew Bowles, Sadiqah Razark, Ryan Harper, Zaakir Razark, Petersen Philip and Martin Johnson allowed for the effective running of the event.
The TTCA, in a release, thanked the Ministry of Health for providing the exemption that allowed T&T to participate in this historic event as well as the T&T Police Service (TTPS) for the curfew passes which were needed on a few nights.
According to the TTCA release: "We officially recognise other partners including bmobile for use of their box at the Oval as the North (POS) venue, Mr Roger Ali, Ag Principal of Naparima College for the South (San Fernando) venue, as well as Platinum Rentals, which quickly responded to the TTCA’s requests and in challenging circumstances. We also sincerely appreciate the support provided by parents that allowed for the successful staging of this event including Mrs Francis Laing and Mrs Lynette Gillette.
"Chess continues to enjoy much activity given the flexibility provide by online channels and the TTCA will continue to actively engage their community throughout this pandemic."