Urban giants Wolmer’s, Excelsior impress at Chess Champs
Published:Wednesday | November 28, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Defending urban champions Excelsior High and rivals Wolmer's Boys High dominated the preliminary phase of the 2018-2019 Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) National High School Chess Championship held recently at the Campion College Auditorium.
The Kings of the Kingston Zone once again proved their superiority, as both teams delivered a clean sweep of their opponents to advance to the All Island Finals to be held in March 2019.
In Zone 1a, Excelsior A secured 4-0 victories against Kingston College (KC) A, St. George's A and Dunoon Park Technical A, while only conceding 1.5 game points against Wolmer's Boys B team and the Excelsior C team. This came about as a result of Davica Chambers' blunder in the English middlegame and Romar Smith's cautious play in his third round match.
Excelsior A, which is led by Romar Smith, who is in his final year, promises to bring some excitement in the finals, where they finished third overall in the entire island at last year's event.
Zone 1b wasn't much different as Wolmer's Boy's A successfully triumphed against opponents like Camperdown High A, Excelsior B and KC B to conquer the zone. National Under-16 Champion Lontae Walker commandeered Wolmer's A to another successful tour of the preliminary round, as he topped the stage with the highest performance rating.
BEST GIRL PLAYER
Board 2, featured Wolmer's Girls' Alliyah Yankana, who finished as the best girl player of the preliminary round, as she successfully won all five rounds with her most impressive win coming against Tristan Isaacs of the dominant Wolmer's Boy's A team. After finishing second in the preliminary stage, Wolmer's Girl's A will definitely be a team to watch as they enter the next round of the competition.
KC A, St George's A, Wolmer's Girl's A and Excelsior B will now advance to the playoffs to be held at St. Catherine High School in January for one of the four prestigious spots up for grabs in the All Island Finals. The defending All Island Champions are St. Jago High School who are seeking their sixth consecutive title.