Winning, while playing with the black pieces in his final match, caused Amir Mahadeo to top the rankings in the Under-18 Open category of the T&T National Youth Chess Championship, on Sunday.
Mahadeo entered the seventh and final round of the tournament ranked second tied on four points with six other competitors.
However, with his victory over Rayshard Hosein, Mahadeo finished the tournament tied on five points with three others but based on the tie break rules he came out on top.
Mahadeo was one of 160 children who participated in the national youth tournament which took place over the past two weekends at the Presentation College, Chaguanas.
President of the T&T Chess Association (TTCA) Sonja Johnson told Guardian Media, she was pleasantly surprised by the turnout.
“It was an amazing turnout. We are still in shock especially after last year. Because of the pandemic people were still very wary if they should come out. And this year they came out in their numbers and I just say, ‘thank you God’,” Johnson said.
Johnson said it was heartening to see children as young as five coming out to play alongside the teenagers.
Johnson said for many of the young children it was their first in-person chess tournament after learning the rules of the game online during the pandemic.
In the U-14 Open category there were as many as 32 competitors registered.
Zachary Murray won that category with six points.
The tie breakers rules were needed to separate Murray from Kael Samuel Bisnath and Luke Gillette who also ended with six points.
Johnson said next up will be the National Junior Championship which will also be held at Presentation, Chaguanas. It is scheduled to start on January 21.
In that tournament, competitors under 20 will all play against each other without being separated by age restrictions.
Apart from that, Johnson said T&T has also won the bid to host the Central American and Caribbean Youth Chess Festival in August.
She said there are also other events scheduled for the calendar for 2023.
Johnson said chess is alive and well in T&T. (Trinidad Guardian)
