SPORTS NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR THE JAMAICA CHESS FEDERATION
25 NOVEMBER 2017

JAMAICAN CHESS QUEEN DEFEATS TOP SEED IN FINAL ROUND TO FINISH STRONGLY IN EL SALVADOR ZONALS

Jamaica's and the English-speaking Caribbean’s top female player, Woman International Master (WIM) Deborah Richards Porter, ended her campaign to qualify for the 2018 Women's World Chess Championship on a high, when she defeated the top seed International Master (IM) Paula Andrea Rodriguez Rueda in the final round of the FIDE Zonal 2.3 Tournament.

The tournament, which concluded last Thursday in El Salvador, served as a qualifier for the Women's World Chess Championship to be held next year in Khanty Mansysk, Russia.

IM Rueda, the top female player in Colombia, was one win away from taking the top spot, but was forced to resign against the Jamaican Chess Queen after 3 hours of tumultuous battle. Rueda extended her hand to concede defeat, as she was one move away from being checkmated. Rueda is the highest rated opponent that Richards Porter has ever defeated.
The win propelled Richards Porter to a solid 5.5 points from 9 games, which placed her 4th after tiebreaks were employed, just half point outside of potentially qualifying for the Women’s World Chess Championship.

The top 3 finishers all finished tied on 6 points, which required a round robin playoff to determine who would secure the spot to Khanty Mansiysk in 2018. WIM Danitza Fernanda Vázquez Maccarini of Puerto Rico, defeated her two Cuban opponents Woman Grand Master (WGM) Maritza Arribas Robaina and WIM Yerisbel Miranda Llanes to become the winner of the event and qualify to the 2018 Women's World Chess Championship.

Richards Porter is the only player from the English-speaking Caribbean to ever qualify for the Zonal, which saw her competing with 21 other top female players from Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Part sponsorship for WIM Deborah Richards Porter's trip to the Zonal's was provided by the Kasparov Chess Foundation and the R&D Chess Academy.
Richards Porter is a 10-time winner of the National Women's Chess Championship of Jamaica, and has etched her name in Caribbean sports history, as the best female chess player ever, from the English-speaking Caribbean.

Richards-Porter has represented Jamaica with distinction at six (6) World Chess Olympiads from Bled, Slovenia (2002) to Baku, Azerbaijan (2016). She made history at the 37th Olympiad (Turin, Italy 2006), where she earned the Woman FIDE Master (“WFM”) title. At the Women’s Sub-Zonals in Suriname 2014 she earned the “WIM” title. She was the first person in the English-speaking Caribbean to gain these titles.

Her biggest achievements to date include winning the Sub-Zonals Women's Championship in Barbados in 2016 and leading Jamaica's Women's team to win the gold medal for its category at the 39th Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia, Russia in 2010.

END

See other articles..