JOHN POWELL MEMORIAL CHESS OPEN 2018
THE 2018 JOHN POWELL MEMORIAL OPEN
The Jamaica Chess Federation (JCF) will be staging the eleventh edition of the IA FM John Powell Memorial Chess Open next year on January 18th thru to January 21st, 2018 at the Liberty Academy on Hope Road in Kingston.
The tournament will be divided into three sections, an Open section in which anyone can play, a FIDE U-1600 for entrants with a FIDE rating under 1600 and a JCF RAPID U-1300 section for entrants with a JCF rating under 1300. The Open section will start with two rounds in the week (Thursday and Friday at 6pm and resume on the weekend with two rounds being played on Saturday and the final two being played on the Sunday. The Fide rated U-1600 section will start on Saturday at 9am with three rounds being played on Saturday and the final three rounds being played on the Sunday. There will also be a JCF Rated U-1300 Rapid Tournament which will also begin on Saturday with all six rounds being completed in one day.
This tournament will be the first event for the 2018 Jamaica Chess Federation Grand Prix and for the Open Section, Round one will begin at 6pm on Thursday January 18th and Round 2 will be on Friday January 19th also at 6pm, at the Liberty Academy.
The tournament will resume on the weekend on Saturday January 20th at the Liberty Academy on 32 Hope road with round 3 starting at 9am and Round 4 starting at 2pm. The 1st round of the Fide U 1600 and U 1300 section will also begin on Saturday January 20, at 9am.
Round 5 of the Open section will begin on Sunday at 8:30am and the final round 6 will begin at 1:30pm.
Guaranteed Prizes will be include prizes for the top players in each section. Both the FIDE Open & the U-1600 sections will be rated by the World Governing Body for Chess, FIDE.
FIDE U-1600 Section
The first three rounds of the FIDE U-1600 section will begin on Saturday at 9am. The top 5 players will receive trophies while 6th to 10th will receive medals. The top 3 girls will receive trophies while 4th & 5th will receive medals. Medals will be awarded ro the top 3 Under 8, U-10 & U-12, U-14 players.
JCF U-1300 Section
The JCF RAPID U-1300 section will also begin on Saturday at 9am , however all six rounds of this tournament will be completed in one day
The top 10 players in the U-1300 will receive trophies. The top 5 girls will also receive trophies. Medals will be awarded ro the top 3 Under 6, 8 & 10 players.
The tournament, which was previously called the New Year's Open, was renamed in honour of International Arbiter & FIDE Master John Powell, a founding member of the JCF and a former president, who passed away in October of 2007.
Powell considered to be an extraordinary chess administrator, was one of the catalysts for the growth and development of the sport in Jamaica, particularly at the secondary school level during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Powell was also one of the strongest players in Jamaica at the height of his chess-playing career during the 1970s and 1980s, achieving the title of National Master in 1975. He was widely considered to be the strongest Jamaican player never to have won the National Championships outright. He tied for first three times, 1973, 1980 and 1988, however, he lost on tiebreak to NM Harold Chan in 1973, and NM Robert Wheeler in 1980 and 1988.
Powell represented Jamaica at many Chess Olympiads, winning a silver medal for Jamaica on Board Four in the Olympiad of 1984, which was held in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Powell was still actively playing up to his untimely passing in 2007.
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