Jamaica's newest National Master Brandon Wilson, scored 5 points from 6 games to win the fifth staging of the Dehring Bunting & Golding Clarendon Chess Open, held at Glenmuir High School in May Pen Clarendon over the weekend. Wilson secured the Clarendon title after registering crucial victories in rounds five and six against fellow National Masters Russel Porter and defending champion Equitable Brown.

Wilson, who is currently studying at the University of the West Indies, topped the Open section ahead of the fast improving but sometimes over-exuberant junior from Campion College Zachary Ramsay, who finished second on 4.5 points and National Master Russel Porter, Paul Brooks and Daren Wisdom, each of whom ended on four points to share third place.

The award for best female entrant in the Open section went to Annesha Smith, best junior went to Wilson and the top player from Clarendon in the Open section was Lucien Rowe. The section for entrants with a Jamaica Chess Federation (JCF) rating under 1600 saw Campion College's Douglas Johnson sweeping the field, scoring a perfect 6 points from 6 games. Three players Krishna Gray of Wolmer's Girls, Ashley Ferguson of Campion College and Dwayne Bennett each ended on 5 points to share second place.

Other category prizes awarded in the Under 1600 section went to:

· Krishna Gray - Best Female;
· Dwayne Bennett - Best Player from Clarendon;
· Timothy Henry (Campion College) - Best Under 12;
· Alexander Chen (Belair High) - Best New Player; and
· Kadian McGlashan - Best Female from outside the Corporate Area

Please note that two time Clarendon Open Champion, National Master Jomo Pitterson had to leave after round one, which some might argue, blew the tournament wide open.

The tournament, which was organized by the Clarendon Chess Association (CCA) and sponsored by the May Pen Branch of DB&G, had a field of 63 entrants, the largest since its inception in 2003.

Below are pics of the winner of each section and the crosstables for both sections. The crosstables are attached in Microsoft Word format.

~ Peter Myers, Jamaica Chess Federation

Posted by The Chess Drum: 16 November 2007