Busy summer ahead for Jamaica Chess Federation

THE JAMAICA Chess Federation has confirmed their participation in the 2024 Pan-American Chess Championships in Orlando, Florida, later this month as well as the 2024 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Youth Chess Festival in San Salvador, El Salvador, scheduled for early August.

The Pan-American Chess Championships will take place from July 15 to 21 while the CAC Youth Chess Festival are set for August 1 to 8.

Deborah Richards-Porter, vice president of the Jamaica Chess Federation, said the upcoming tournaments present massive opportunities for Jamaica’s players to develop their skills against international competition.

“It is super important because you can’t develop without playing on the world stage,” she explained.

“The only bigger event for the juniors would be the World Chess Championships, so playing in a tournament of this calibre allows them to compete against students of their age group who are not just from the Caribbean, but are from Central America, the US, and Canada.

“By gauging themselves against these individuals, they know exactly what they need to work with in order to become one of the best juniors in the world,” she added.

Jamaica will be sending their largest-ever team to the Pan-American Championships, fielding a delegation of 64 persons comprising 33 junior players from ages of six to 18.

Jamaica will have 40 juniors competing in the CAC Youth Chess Festival.

Richards-Porter said the delegation will be a mix of seasoned players and first-time competitors.

“We have a group of mixed juniors, we have some person who are coming for the first time and we have some who are seasoned players who are participating,” she said.

“We have some of the students who did very well last time, so we are hoping that it will galvanise their efforts, especially as it relates to the upcoming CAC Youth Championships.”

The expectations are high for Jamaica ahead of the tournaments, particularly the CAC Youth Chess Festival.

Jamaica will enter that competition as defending champions but must butt heads with last year’s runners-up Trinidad and Tobago, and third-place Cuba.

Richards-Porter said the team is high on confidence but understands the weight of expectation which comes with the champions’ tag.

“We won it last year, so we’re definitely going to see what we’ll be able to do this year. We expect that it is going to be far more competitive, but we’ll do our best to ensure that we put Jamaica on the map very strong.

“There is some expectation but one thing we’re sure of is that our kids will definitely go out and do their best,” she added.

“Irrespective of what happens, I’m sure that they will come back stronger as a result because we saw that last year and the years before. We want to defend our title but what is most important is the development of our students.”