Jamaica Jamaica Jamaica

Ian Wilkinson, "THE PACK WITH SIMUTOWE AFTER TWO ROUNDS,"  Jamaican Chess Federation, 15 October 2006 (Kingston, Jamaica).

At the end of the first day's play of the 2006 Jamaica Open Chess Championship being played in Kingston, Jamaica at the Guardian Life Building (Trafalgar Road), Zambian International Master Amon Simutowe leads on tie-breaks with two wins from his two outings. In the first round Amon's English Opening comfortably dispatched Bertram Scott, the proprietor of Jamaican Ambassadors Chess Academy, and in the second round his Sicilian was too strong for former national junior champion and Candidate Master Daren Wisdom.

In the third round Simutowe will face National Master
Russel Porter who is also on two points after wins over Mark Henry and Gary Hew, respectively. This clash is of interest as when Simutowe last visited Jamaica in 2004 his only loss in a simultaneous exhibition was in a King's Indian Defence to Porter who then had the white pieces. This time the colours are reversed. Hew created the upset of the tournament so far by defeating Candidate Master Peter Myers in the first round but sat deep in thought as his clock fell in a drawn knight and pawn ending against Porter in the second round.

Other players who share the lead with the "zooming Zambian" and Porter are former national champion
FM Warren Elliott and National Masters Geoffrey Byfield, Shane Matthews, Malaku Lorne and Equitable Brown. The competition continues on Sunday with two more rounds and ends on Monday October 16 (Jamaica's National Heroes' Day) with the final two rounds. The time control is the usual FIDE control of game in 90 minutes with increments of 30 seconds from move one.

15th October, 2006
Ian Wilkinson
President
Jamaica Chess Federation

Posted by The Chess Drum: 15 October 2006