CHRISTOPHER Raphael, 14-year-old St Mary’s student, added another trophy to his growing collection when he topped the U20 section of the Rapid Play tournament held at St Augustine Girls High School on Friday, March 30th. Christopher, a fomer national U14 champion, scored 4.5 points in the five-round event.  

Chirstopher receiving his 1st Place Trophy from

Quintin Cabralis, President of Kings and Queens Chess Club

He won his first major tournament in 2005 when he outplayed the U14s at the Junior Orange Bowl event in Miami. Last year he took first prize in the U20 division of the Orchard Grand Prix contest and took third place at the Sagicor Barbados Junior Tournament.

The contest, which launched the 2007 tournament calendar of the T&T Chess Foundation, attracted a total of 79 players from all parts of Trinidad. It was played in three divisions, U20 which was also an Open section, U14 and Novices.

Edison Raphael, president of the T&TCF, said he was pleased with the response to the tournament and looked forward to presenting another successful year of chess activity for junior players.

Among the U20s, three players scored 3.5 points, Kiran Maharaj of Trinity East, Marcus Joseph, of Fatima, current U20 national champion, and Jayson Paul, third form student of Queen’s Royal College. Kevin Cupid won the special prize for emerging the best U16 player in this division.  

Kiran Maharaj of Trinity East

National Champion Marcus Joseph Receives his 3rd place Trophy

In the U14 section, with 40 players, Prithvi Ramakrishnan had a perfect score, winning all his five games. Four other players, Melissa Pereira, Jarryon Paul, Adrian Davis, Michael Richards and Peter Sui, finished on four points.

Prithvi Ramakrishnan winner Under 14

Special prizes were awarded to Rhea Eccles for the best score among the U12s and to Prithvi’s younger brother, Prasanna, for the best U10 performance. The Ramakrishnan boys are showing consistent promise. They are both Orchard Grand Prix champions, Prithvi among the U14s and Prasanna among the U10s. Last year, they both won the Foundation’s Orchard Grand Prix tournament in their respective sections. Prasanna topped the U10 section in the Sagicor Junior tournament in Barbados while Prithvi finished among the first ten in the Miami Junior Orange Bowl event in 2004 nd 2005.

A total of 28 enthusiastic novices took part in the tournament, with eight-year-old Mahendra Singh of the Curepe Presbyterian School emerging the winner with a perfect score of 7 out of 7.  

Mahendra Singh Receives his 1st place trophy form Rawlson Paul

The sons of Mr and Mrs Naroutan Singh, Mahendra and his older brother Vishnu, 11, started playing and studying the game under the Foundation just a few months ago and Mahendra’s victory demonstrates the progress he has made.

Their father, Naroutan, said he was happy that his boys are enjoying the sport of chess as they are learning many lessons, including how to handle defeat. He has also observed an improvement in their mental ability since they began playing chess. “They seem to be able to think faster and more clearly,” he said.

Second among the novices was Vivek Mathanji of Naparima College with 6 points while two players finished on 4, Jevon Lewis of Rosary Boys and Whitney Jackson of SAGHS.

Special novice prizes were awarded to Keanu Seecharan of Bossiere RC (U8), Adam Oliver of Arima Boys RC (U10) and Stefan Sealy of Blackman’s Private School(U12).