JAMAICA made a late surge in the just concluded CARICOM Classic Team Chess Tournament, surpassing top rivals Trinidad and Tobago after nine rounds of action concluded on Sunday at the Pegasus Hotel.

Jamaica was trailing their Trinidadian opponents by a slim margin at the halfway stage.
However, the team from the land of wood and water rose like the phoenix to finish ahead of Trinidad by .5, points with a total of 29.5.
Third place went to Suriname with 25.5 points and Barbados finished fourth with 22.5 points.

Guyana A which finished second place last year ended their campaign with 21.5 points after five wins in the classical Swiss-type chess team competition.
Guyana A lost to Jamaica 3-1, beat Suriname 2.5 to 1.5 points, drew with Barbados 2-2, beat St Lucia 2.5 to 1.5 and the Cayman Islands 3.5 to .5 points, drew with Guyana B team 2-2, beat Jamaica 3.5 to .5 and Guyana junior side 4-0.

Guyana A squad was made up of the likes of Taffin Khan, Kyle Couchman, Aditi Joshi and Ciel Clements.
They lost their final round clash to Trinidad 3.5 to .5 points with Couchman securing the draw.
Guyana B team secured 8th place with the junior squad finishing in the cellar of the 10-team championship.
In the U-16 individual competition, Guyana’s best finisher was Alexander Zhang in fourth place with Barbados’ Mileke Sinckler finishing in first place.
Guyana’s Nicholas Zhang finished in sixth place.

The first instalment of the CARICOM Classic Chess tournament was held in 2024 to coincide with CARICOM’s 50th anniversary.