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  RBTT NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPS
First rnd. Standings - Quarter Final Reports- Format - Prizes -

2002/2003 RBTT NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPS

- 1st Round Report - Quarter Final Report -Semi Final Report

Report 3, By Peter Myers,

March 30, 2003,  

CAMPION TAKES 2003 RBTT NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOLS CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Campion College on Friday walked away 2003 RBTT National High Schools Chess Champions with a 3-1
victory over Cornwall College.

CAMPION-CORNWALL HISTORY

Cornwall College’s only victory in the Championship came in 1977, while Campion has won the tournament on 3 occasions 1989, 1990 and 1991. In 1989 and 1990,
Campion’s opponent was Cornwall College: both finals ended in a 2-2 score line and both finals were
ultimately decided by a blitz match between two of the best chess potentials Jamaica has ever seen, Campion’s Chad Cunningham and Cornwall College’s Richard Haughton. Because of these two 2-2 score lines, there still seemed to be some unfinished business between the two schools.

THE FIRST MANEUVER
When both teams eventually sat down to once again play each other in the finals, no one knew what to expect. While Campion were the favourites with two top juniors on
their top two boards in Christopher Buchanan and Hui Zhu, everyone knew Cornwall were not in the finals by luck. The first thing which became evident was that Cornwall chose to employ the tactic of sacrificing their top board to allow their last three boards easier games.

THE FIRST GAME
Because of the Board 1 sacrifice by Cornwall, Campion’s Board 1 Christopher Buchanan had little trouble in dispatching Cornwall’s Damion Fearing in 34 moves, after
weathering an extremely scary kingside attack. The score was 1-0 to Campion.

THE SECOND GAME
On Board 2, Cornwall’s Dorrell McCalman seemed to be the first to benefit from the Board 1 sacrifice. He defeated Hui Zhu after 61 moves. Despite blundering and giving up the exchange, Zhu still had drawing chances. However, the need to constantly find only moves eventually took its
toll and her position eventually deteriorated back into a lossed game.
The score was now 1-1. So far so good for Cornwall, things were going according to plan, they had come away with a 1-1 split from the top two Boards.

THE THIRD GAME
Board 3, was a very contrary game. Almost everyone in the room believed Campion’s Andrew Robinson was in trouble from about move 8. The only person who seemed
to believe the game was OK was Robinson himself!

His opponent, Cornwall’s Sheldon Pennicott playing white, by move 8 had a bishop at c4, a queen at d5, a bishop on h7 and a knight at g5. Computer post-analysis proved
that Robinson had nothing to be worried about.

The game swung back and forth for some time, but Pennicott committed the final blunder from which
there was no recovery. After 59 moves, Pennicott resigned. The score was now 2-1 to Campion.

One interesting fact to note:
This was Robinson’s 9th match of the tournament. Despite being Campion’s Board 3, to date all his opponents have been at least the second best players on their respective teams. Despite this he achieved a score of 7.5 from 9 games.

THE FOURTH AND FINAL GAME
Board 4 saw Campion’s Charles Ross Jnr. up against Cornwall’s Sheldon Glenn. Ross played carefully
for most of the game. He blundered at two points, he gradually climbed back from the first and his
opponent failed to capitalize on the second.

His temperament has been noticed by the JCF. He was the only competitor who was seated for his entire game and seemed to spend the entire match analyzing his game. A
trait that many of the top players would do well to develop (including myself).

Ross won after 59 moves. It was clear he simply out thought his opponent. For this reason, I would
like to identify him as one to watch for the future, not just to do well, but if he desired, to go to the highest level in Jamaica.

3-1 to Campion College.

THE AWARDS

The first place trophy went to Campion College while Cornwall received second place prizes in addition to the Gleaner YouthLink Trophy for being the best team
outside Kingston and St. Andrew.

The Best female team was Wolmer’s Girls and their top player and Board 3 Deborah Richards was awarded the Best Female prize.

The Board 1 award went to Wolmers’ Boys’ Ras Malaku Lorne, Cornwall’s Dorrell McCalman was top Board 2, Campion’s Andrew Robinson was top Board 3, Jevan Brown of Mannings High was top Board 4 and Campion’s Hadrian Christie was top Reserve.

Wolmer’s Boys were Zone 1 Champions, Campion was Zone 2 Champions, Clarendon College were Zone 4
Champions and Mannings High were Zone 5 Champions.

The prize for Most Valuable Player was the hardest to decide. The two
main contenders were
Cornwall’s Dorrell McCalman and Campion’s Andrew Robinson. The main
factor which separated the two was the fact that Robinson did not lose any game which may have jeopardized the teams chances of advancing. Robinson’s only loss came in the preliminaries and had
little effect on the teams chances.

McCalman’s only loss came in the crucial semifinals and resulted in the team playing to a 2-2 score, having to rely on a blitz match to get them to the next stage.

Does this settle the matter between Campion and Cornwall? Hmm.