Mellace captures Jamaica Chess Open

National Master Andrew Mellace captured the 2011 Jamaica Chess Open, when he finished on an impressive five points from six games.

The tournament, which took place on October 15 and 16 at Immaculate Conception High School and Alhambra Inn, received nearly 100 participants.

In the penultimate round of action, Mellace defeated veteran National Master Geoffrey Byfield to secure his third major tournament victory for the year, with an entire round to spare as he was placed 1.5 points ahead of the rest of the field. Despite a final-round loss to National Champion Damion Davy, Mellace has certainly demonstrated his commanding authority on the local chess scene.

Second place was shared between National Masters Davy and Mikhail Solomon, who both finished on 4.5 points.

The intermediate section, for players with a Jamaica Chess Federation rating below 1600, was dominated by players from the St Jago Chess Academy.

St Jago High student Roderick Clifford outclassed his competition to finish on a perfect score of six points from six games, while his high school teammate Alistair Walker trailed closely behind in second place with five points. Jeremy Parchment, André Nelson and Tahj Davis also finished on five points. Ultimately, tiebreaks were used to award the silver and bronze medals to Walker and Parchment, respectively.

clean sweep

Nathan Belinfante made a clean sweep of the amateur section, which is designated for players rated below 1300, to finish on a perfect score of five points from five games. Nathan Walsh, Addison Biggs, Shanique Scott and Magdalene Mitchell all followed with four points. Walsh and Biggs were awarded the silver and bronze-place medals, respectively, based on tiebreaks.

Second-year University of the West Indies, Mona student Stuart James was adjudged the 'best junior player', while other prizes were awarded to Melisha Smith, National Master Mikhail Solomon and Ralston Sutherland as the 'best female player', 'best rural player' and 'best new player', respectively.

The tournament was sponsored by the Sports Development Foundation and the Magnificent Chess Foundation.