Jamaica delivers strongest-ever showing at Pan American Youth Chess Festival

MEDELLÍN, Colombia — Jamaica’s junior chess team has produced one of its strongest performances ever at the 2026 Pan American Youth Chess Festival, with outstanding results against the best young players from 30 countries across the Americas. Competing against almost 1,000 players, Jamaica fielded its largest-ever delegation of 35 competitors, with several producing exceptional performances against significantly higher-rated opponents. Leading the Jamaican contingent was Rhea Gardener, who finished with an outstanding 6½ points from nine games in the Under-10 Girls section.

Rated 1422 entering the tournament, Gardener achieved a performance rating of 1685, while gaining an impressive 128.8 FIDE rating points, recording victories over players from Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela and drawing against Peru. She narrowly missed being Jamaica’s first Pan Am medalist by half a point, tying for fourth place and sixth on tiebreak. Jamaica also celebrated one player on 5½ points and seven players finishing on 5 points.

Meusem Liao enjoyed an excellent tournament in the Under-10 Open, scoring 5½ points to finish 27th after beginning the tournament seeded 79th — a remarkable climb of more than 50 places. In the Under-8 Girls, Je’Nasiya Mais scored 5/9 to finish 12th, while teammate Rae’lazne Porter also impressed with five points, finishing 14th. Rajvir Shergil produced another outstanding tournament in the Under-12 Open, scoring five points with a performance rating of 1723, and gaining 78.8 FIDE rating points after defeating higher-rated opponents from Colombia and Honduras and drawing against Paraguay.

In the same category Khalel Davy, who shows tremendous promise and was playing up an age group, also scored five points, with a performance rating of 1641. In the Under-12 Girls, Noelle Noble also finished with five points, facing higher-rated opponents in seven rounds and recording wins in five of them. This earned her a performance rating of 1660 and a gain of 49.6 FIDE rating points.

Vaishnav Gali also had a respectable finish to the tournament with five points in the highly competitive Under-14 Open division. Candidate Master Nathaniel Hope, competing in the Under-18 Open, finished with five points, earning a 1994 performance rating while gaining 32.8 FIDE rating points after facing a succession of masters and internationally rated opponents.