CMMB tourney a smashing success!

Trinidad’s Edison Raphael made modest projections for the CMMB Caribbean Chess Championships, but in an interview with The Chess Drum, he stated that the tournament exceeded his expections. A total of 104 entries with the following breakdown in four sections: 36 in the Open, 30 in the under-20,  27 in the under-14 and 11 in the under-10. Again… the results were:

Senior
1 Pecorelli-Garcia, Humberto CUBA (2386) 6½
2 Simutowe, Amon ZAMBIA (2421) 6½
3 Harper, Ryan TRINIDAD (2300) 6
4 Pitterson, Jomo JAMAICA (2211) 5½
5 Matoewi, Roger SURINAME (2150) 5½

6th-10th: Kurtis Chong (TRI), Kishore Ramadhar (TRI), WFM Zuzana Boras?va (SVK), Eddison Chang (TRI), Daaim Shabazz (USA), 5-3

Under-20
1 Wilson, Brandon JAMAICA (2116)  7
2 Salloum, Justin TRINIDAD 6
3 Noreskal, Slomy MARTINIQUE 6
4 Sanches, Romario SURINAME 5½
5 Malgie, Avikaar SURINAME 5½

Under-14
1 Jackman, Alex BARBADOS (1798) 7
2 Pryce, Phillip JAMAICA 6½ 
3 Guerrero, Rafael TRINIDAD 6
4 Paul, Jarryon TRINIDAD 6
5 Dos Ramos, Geryen SURINAME 5½

Under-10
1 Chong, Jonathan TRINIDAD 7
2 Kafiluddin, Alexander SURINAME 6½
3 Tjong Tjin Joe, Cavin SURINAME 5½ 
4 Nelson, Ronnie TRINIDAD 5
5 Dos Ramos Jr., Carlos SURINAME 4½ 

Humberto Pecorelli-Garcia Of Cuba won the Open section on tiebreaks over Zambia’s Amon Simutowe despite drawing his last three encounters. He stated in an interview with The Chess Drum that he had become a bit tired at the end. His game with Simutowe was highly anticipated, but he actually missed a win in the following position: 

It appears as if white has to watch the dangers on the backrank, but Simutowe demonstrated the following line: 1.Rxb4! (Pecorelli played 1.g3) 1…Rd1+ 2.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 3.Bg1 Bd4 4.Bf1! netting a piece.

The games will become available soon, but there were some very interesting endings. I did three interviews. One with Edison Raphael ; one with Cuban IM, Humberto Pecorelli. Martinque’s Gilles Suez-Panama (yes… the two canals) submitted to an interview and we talked about 14 minutes about a range of topics. This is one of the best audio interviews in the archives.

Gilles Suez-Panama (Martinique)

Gilles discussed a variety of topics including Martinican activities, players and plans for chess development. He discussed Martinique’s unique lifestyle, scenery, food and national pastime. He even mentioned national hero and football superstar Theirry Henri whose mother is from Martinique!

The tournament had an element of excitement given that the juniors and seniors played in the same room and mingled freely. There was a lot of impromptu blitz battles and an occasional bughouse game going on outside of the playing hall. Some other kids passed time playing video games on the Internet. Thus, it was always a challenge to keep it quiet. The Surinamese showed patriotism by donning their national colors each round.

Rosangela DosRamos (Suriname)

The Jamaicans made up for it during the awards ceremony when the entire delegation paraded to the stage to help Brandon Wilson receive his under-20 crown. It was an impressive show of pride and patriotism. 

The Jamaican entourage joining Brandon Wilson
to receive his under-20 crown.

However one of the most touching moments came in the awards ceremony when a steel pan rendition of the Trinidad & Tobago national anthem was played. The steel pan is the only musical instrument invented in the 20th century and is absolutely beautiful. 

Photo essay coming! Final results here!