2024 Dominica Chess Championships

Daaim Shabazz June 13, 2024

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Dominica

The island of Dominica recently held its National Chess Championships, including its first Women’s Finals from May 30th to June 6th. The venue was the Dominica State College, which attracted the island’s best. In fact, Dr. Jones Murphy, Jr. came from the U.S. to compete in the tournament for the first time in 40 years.

The level of chess in Dominica is WAY up from when I last played in a championship there 40 yrs ago.
~Jones Murphy, Jr.

Despite having had chess activity on the island for decades, Dominica only became a member of FIDE in 2022 . This year, the top five players from each tournament earn spots to represent Dominica on the Men’s and Women’s teams at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Hungary in September 2024.

Open

Robert Bridet and Murphy tied for first in the Open Section with 7/9. Bridet was declared the overall winner when Murphy could not play the tiebreaker due to preparation for his flight later that night. Murphy commented on the presence of an old rival, Nick Goldberg, with whom he played 40 years ago. “He’s now 70 but was still good enough to finish in 6th place and make the Olympiad team. Tough battles this time and 40 years ago, but I won both games,” Murphy reflected.

1st-2nd: Robert Bridet, Jones Murphy, 7/9
3rd place: Larry Thomas, 6
4th place: Nigel Francis, 5.5
5th place: Lyndon Auguiste, 5

Women

In the first women’s championship, nine players battled for the right to represent Dominica at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest in September. The Women’s tournament also concluded after 7 rounds of Swiss matches. From the 9 contenders, here are the top 3 awardees:

1st place: Ayani Casimir, 7/9 points
2nd place: Liudmila Domennova, 6
3rd place: Zahidu Henry, 4