Chess grandmaster to visit Jamaica

CHESS GRANDMASTER Fabiano Caruana is set to visit Jamaica from July 24 to 25 to meet with the local chess community as well as take part in workshops.

Caruana is the reigning Grand Chess Tour champion as well as the third-highest player in chess history.

Mark Cameron, Jamaica Chess Federation public relations officer, said Caruana’s visit to Jamaica will be to take part in the ‘GM in 10’ programme to be held in Jamaica in late July.

The programme is meant to identify and train the most talented chess players in Jamaica to produce the first-ever home-grown chess grandmaster.

Caruana will also meet with Jamaica’s chess Olympiad teams to give some insights as they prepare for the Chess Olympiad in September.

“We’re having a workshop and we’re having a ‘GM in 10’ programme. So this workshop will be taking place and he’ll be visiting the week of that workshop and help to tell the players what is needed to get to the grandmaster level.

“He is also going to be giving some instruction to our male and female Olympiad teams for the Chess Olympiad which will be held in September,” said Cameron.

Cameron said the Jamaica Chess Federation is looking forward to Caruana’s visit as it represents a sporting elite taking interest in the nation’s future.

He said this visit is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for chess players in Jamaica to learn directly from one of the best players in chess history.

“This is really an outstanding opportunity because it is very rare,” he said.

“As you can imagine, to have somebody that is such a strong player in his respective field to be here in Jamaica. It would be the equivalent of having [Cristiano] Ronaldo or [Lionel] Messi coming to Jamaica. It is an outstanding once-in-a-lifetime activity where somebody like him would come to Jamaica.”

Cameron believes Caruana’s visit is also a signal the international chess community is taking more notice of Jamaica’s growing interest in the sport.

He said Jamaica’s ‘GM in 10’ programme is a unique initiative in chess and could bring even more elite players to the island in the near future.

“It is an opportunity as the ‘GM in 10’ programme that we have is being implemented and even though Jamaica is so small, we are one of the few countries that have that kind of programme,” he said.

“So we have a lot of interest in the programme globally and that is one of the attractions too that top players would want to come to Jamaica and see what we’re doing and to come and help.”