Chess masters face off in Jamaica

Chess masters face off in int’l tourney
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Jamaica Observer – Kingston, Jamaica

The Magnificent Chess Foundation and the University of the West Indies (UWI) Chess Society will stage the Magnificent Chess UWI Masters Tournament from March 16 to 22.

The tournament, which will be rated by the game’s international governing body FIDE, will take place at the Medallion Hall Hotel, Hope Road, on March 16 and 17 and at the UWI Assembly Hall from March 19 to 22.

A number of international chess masters from several countries will challenge Jamaica’s three top internationally rated players in the Masters Tournament. The three Jamaicans include Fide Master (FM) Warren Elliott (Jamaica’s highest internationally-rated player), Fide Master Jomo Pitterson (Jamaica’s top performer over the past two years and Jamaica’s unbeaten star of the 2008 Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany) and National Master Shane Matthews, Jamaica’s record seven-time national champion. These Jamaicans are pursuing an “International Chess Master” title which would be a first for Jamaica.

The Jamaicans will face their toughest competition in Jamaica to date, as several players of note have been invited from countries such as Barbados, Cuba and Sweden to participate in the event.

One of the invitees is International Chess Grandmaster (GM) Alfonso Romero Holmes, one of Spain’s top GMs, who has played against many of the world’s top players and who performed excellently for Spain at the 2002 Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia, dispatching many grandmasters to win a medal on board three.

The other international players slated to participate are GM Roman Hernandez Onna (Cuba), GM-elect Amon Simutowe (Zambia), IM Jose Vilela (Cuba), IM Oladapo Adu (Nigeria), FM Delise Warner (Barbados) FM Bengt Hammar (Sweden).

In addition to the Masters event, there will be an Open tournament for players of all levels and tournaments for beginners and intermediate players at the Assembly Hall of the UWI. These events are part of the historic “Magnificent Chess Week” that featured a public chess extravaganza at the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre yesterday.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com