Once again the validity of the recent USVI Chess Federation's recent election is being challanged in the US Virgin Islands Superior Court. An affirmation was submitted to the VI Court regarding the violations of the USVICF Constituion with respect to the electoral procedure that was applied to this election. 

There has been no response submitted to the VI Court, by the Defendants, denying that the USVICF Constituion was violatied.

None of the Defendants were USVI Chess Federation Members at the time of the "Election". 

52nd Annual Agricultural & Food Fair

​2024

St. Croix Open Chess Tournament February 24-25, 2024

1st place Mighty Fantunilla, 2nd place Mosiah Keels, and Third place Justin Hair

Female section: 1st place Jessica Cana 2nd place Marisa Allen

USVI April 2024 FIDE rated Tournaments.

Saturday Chess March 12, 2022. St. Croix Chess Club at Education Connections VI.

Say Hello to our newest scholastic chess Club, WELCOME STX Montessori! 

Rapid Tournament 

1st Place -   Darryl Allen

2nd Place -  Michael Smith

3rd Place -   Colin Heim

Blitz Tournament

1st Place -   Colin Heim

2nd Place -  Darryl Allen

3rd Place    Leah William

First US Virgin Islands Chess Federation     FIDE Rated Tournament of 2025

Rapid Tournament

1st Place Abram Williams

2nd Place Colin Heim

3rd Place Darryl Allen


Blitz Tournament:

1st: Abram Williams 

2nd Justin Hair

3rd Leah Williams

THE DOUBLE TALK - the upcoming April 2026 tournament. Why is the USVICF paying for an arbiter from the states to conduct the April tournament when we have 7 licensed FIDE arbiters living here in the Virgin Islands?

 The Virgin Islands are capable of organizing their own tournaments. We have Orgainzed FIDE torunaments since 2012 without the assitance from a foreign Federation. This is a waste of USVI Chess Federation Funds.

2024 Virgin Islands Scholastic Chess Champions

Again, rules and regulations are changed for qualifying for the 2026 USVI Olympiad Team

  • USVI Chess Federation Constitution statutes regarding the selection of the team have been violated once again
  • The December 2025 tournament was not announced as a qualifying tournament until months after the tournament
  • The upcoming April 2026 tournament is allowing non-residents of the Virgin Islands to participate in a national qualifying tournament, thereby skewing the results.
  • The so call “Olympiad Team Selection Committee” will have bias as members of this committee have a vested interest in making the team.
  • The "Olympiad Team Selection Committee" was formed after the December tournament. Thereby making the rules and regulations after the results of the December tournament
  • The "Olympiad Team Selection Committee", minutes of January 3, 2026, stated that the litigation between the parties of the chess community have been concluded. This is false. The litigation is an open case in the VI Superior and VI Supreme courts.
  • The "Olympic Team Selection Committee"stated that there was a lack of tournaments due to the litigation. This is false. There were 29 tournaments held in the last three years. 19 of which were FIDE Rated.  Many VI players that participated in these tournaments earned a FIDE rating. FIDE ratings have been a determinig factor in qualifying for the USVICF Olympaid team for many years.

The legal 2026 USVICF Constitution as of March 2025 stated:

that there would be 4 qualifying tournaments held from November 2025 – February 2026 to determine the USVI Olympiad Team. These statutes were ignored.


The Selection Criteria just announced:
The first 2 spots on each team will be granted to the 2 highest rated active players on the May rating list. Being selected requires you to have played in BOTH qualifying tournaments. This is being announced After the December tournament was played.
None of the currently rated women played in the St. Croix qualifier. None of the rated women were informed that the December 2025 was a qualifying tournament and that it would be required that they play in both tournaments. This was announced after the tournament was held.

  

 

 

OPEN RAPID AND BLITZ ST. CROIX AND ST.THOMAS CHESS TOURNAMENT​

June 28, 2025


2024 USVI Chess Federation Ratings Development Tournament

March 16 - 17. 2024 at the Palms Resort in St. Croix

 Tell the orgainzer to Correct the errors in the St. Thomas Open (Only FIDE Rated) 

This is the flyer for the  tournament as shown in blue. Comments regarding corrections needed in red,

Open FIDE rated tournament in St. Thomas in the USVI. All unrated and rated players under 2400 welcome! This tournament was previously announced as FIDE + USCF dual rated as we wanted to expand rating building opportunities to players, but we have rescinded USCF rating as it is a USVI Olympiad team qualifier for locals. Apologies for any confusion. Non-locals are welcome to participate though.

Since this is a USVI Olympiad Qualifying tournament NO ONE OUTSIDE OF the Virgin Islands should be allowed to participate in this tournament. Allowing outsiders to play will cause the results of the VI players to be skewed. This is not an equal playing field and should not be allowed.

Note: Adult and student sections are for different prices, but both students and adults will play in the same section.

There must be a separate section for the female players since they are competing to be a member of a separate team in the Olympiad. There is an Open Olympiad team in which both males and females are allowed to play. There is also a separate Women’s Team that is composed of females only, no males allowed on this VI team. Females should not under any circumstances be forced to play against males in competition for a place on the USVI Olympiad Team!
These parameters must be adhered to ensure fair competition.
Tournament Director: Jon Haskel, FIDE International Arbiter Why is the USVI Chess Federation spending funds to allow an arbiter from outside the Virgin Islands to be the arbiter of the local tournament? This is a waste of funds that could be used for legitimate federation expenses such as training and prize money. We have 7 FIDE licensed arbiters in the Virgin Islands; some have hosted many international tournaments in the Virgin Islands. Why haven’t these Virgin Islands Arbiters been asked to direct this tournament? 

St. Thomas Open Chess Tournament February 3-4, 2024

Female section: 1st Place- Leah Williams, 2nd Place Nyeema Henderson, and 3rd Place Lois Williams

Open section: 1st Place Darryl Allen, 2nd Place Anthony Mongiello and 3rd Place Naitik Jhanwar



THE CURRENT USVI CHESS FEDERATION IS IN CONSTITUTIONAL NONCOMPLIANCE

The USVICF constitutional requirements for voting rights are as follows:

1. The Constitution provides that the USVICF governance and elections are conducted through National Clubs and the Congress which is defined as the "supreme governing institution of the USVICF". Constitution statute 2.3.1.1

2. The Constitution provides that only National Clubs "in good standing" are entitled to participate in Congress and to vote. Constitution statutes 2.3.1.4, 2.3.1.5

3. The Constitution requires that National Clubs be formally established and approved, submit applications and governing documents, pay annual fees and submit membership lists in order to be recognized and retain voting rights. Constitution statutes 2.2.6, 2.2.12, 2.2.13

​

​​The announced USVICF annual meeting scheduled for January 17, 2026 is in violation of the current USVI Chess Federation Constitution for the following reasons:


  • This meeting was not noticed on the website or in the local newspapers three months prior to the meeting
  • Proposed amendments were not distributed to the National Clubs two months prior to the meeting
  • National Club Presidents were not allowed to submit proposed amendments to the current constitution
  • The voting procedure is not according to the procedure stated 
  • The USVICF St. Croix Chess Club and individuals of this ​National Club have been denied membership​

 2025 St. Croix Montessori School Chess Championship

       USVI Chess Federation

  Spring Friendship Chess Festival

      April 29 - May 1, 2022

Thank you to our Puerto Rican chess players and arbiter for making this a successful tournament. Everyone had and enjoyable weekend. A special thank you to the FIDE Planning and Development Commission for the generous financial support.


The US Virgin Islands Chess Federation REFUSED DUES from a National Chess Club 

The St.Croix Chess Club, a  US Virgin Islands Chess Federation National Club,  sent their 2026 dues to

Sinclair Wilkinson at: PO Box  10195,  St. Thomas, USVI on December 22, 2025. On December 31, 2025 these dues were refused and sent back to sender from the above address. The St. Croix Chess Club was not allowed to pay their 2026 dues.

Saturday Chess 2023, Anthony teaching class and Reece Creswell visiting from the states!


The 2023 St. Croix District Chess Championship was held on December 2-3.

St. Croix District Open Champion is Mighty Funtanilla, ​2nd place is Kimani Knight, and 3rd place is Justin Hair.

St. Croix District Women's Champion is Aaliah Heart-Saret, second place is Vibah Bansal and 3rd place is Jessica Cana.

Special Recognition Awards

Most Improved Students in the

2024-2025 School Year

Female - Leah Williams

Male - Rodney Harvey

Thanksgiving Weekend Tournaments 2024

St. Croix Chess Club Tournament; December 18, 2021

We've been championing chess since 1993 - join us for a little trip down memory lane below:

St. Croix Open Chess Tournament

April 1-2, 2023 included three players from St. Thomas as well as players from St. Croix.

First Place- Mighty Funtanilla

Second Place- Frank Jackson

Third Place - Robert Collins


The US Virgin Islands 2024 Chess Team at the 45th World Chess Olympiad in Budapest.

​Congratulations to Eve Williams for earning a FIDE Women Candidate Master Title and Michael Smith for earning a FIDE Candidate Master Title!

The 45th World Chess Olympiad occurred in Budapest, Hungary from September 10 – 23, 2024. We competed at this most prestigious world chess event with two teams: Open and Women’s. We are excited to see a resurgence of women’s interest in chess in the Virgin Islands. But more importantly the achievements and participation of young women/female chess players from the Virgin Islands on the world chess stage. It has been 18 years since we fielded a female/women’s team at the Chess Olympiad. Our women’s team consisted of 2 adults; 2 teenagers; and a 10-year-old youth. We commend these young chess players for entering the “Arena” on the world stage and winning 3 out of 10 matches. Eve Williams, Jessica Cana, and Leah Williams earned a FIDE rating due to their performance at the Olympiad.  Eve Williams earned the Title of FIDE Women's Candidate Master. This is only the second time in the US Virgin Islands Chess Federation history that a Virgin Islands female chess player has earned this FIDE Title!
The Women’s Team was: Eve Williams, Jessica Cana, Leah Williams,  Lois Williams, and Marisa Allen.                           

The Open Team was: Darryl Allen,  Michael Smith, Justin Hair Abram Williams, and Colin Heim.

The Open Team won 3 matches out of 10 rounds of competition. Darryl Allen earned a FIDE rating and Michael Smith, who has a FIDE rating, has earned a FIDE title of CM, Candidate Master.
Our Open Team’s final standing was 169 out of the 189 federations that competed, and we finished above 7 of our Caribbean neighboring chess federations.
Our Women’s Team’s final standing was 150 out of 170 federations that competed. We finished above 6 of our Caribbean neighboring chess federations.
The FIDE Congress took place during the 45th Olympiad. Our federation president, Margaret Murphy, as an elected member of the FIDE Verification Commission participated in this commission's meetings. She represented the Virgin Islands at the FIDE General Assembly as the USV Virgin Islands FIDE Delegate. Marisa Allen, USVICF Vice President, and Michael Smith, USVICF Secretary, also attended several committee meetings. Thus, promoting chess activities in the Virgin Islands among international chess federations.
We thank FIDE for providing online training to prepare our athletes for this world chess competition. We also thank FIDE for their assistance in providing airfare for our contingent.



Welcoming Tourists to the Wonderful World of Virgin Islands Chess Hospitality!

                The US Virgin Islands held their District Chess Championships over the first two weekends of December .

                   A total of 30 chess enthusiasts participated. This is the most ever in the USVI District Chess Championships! 

Please join us for Saturday Chess at the St. Croix Montessori School

from 11:00-12:30. 

First FIDE-Rated Blitz Tournament in the 

US Virgin Islands!

November 29, 2024 

1st place - Justin Hair

2nd place - Colin Heim

​3rd place - Margaret Murphy

2023 St. Croix Open

Scholastic Chess Championship 

April 22, 2023

​

​



How to earn a FIDE Rating

FIDE Handbook Rules

B.02.7.1.4      A rating for a player new to the list shall be published when it is based on at least 5 games against rated opponents. This need not be met in one tournament. Results from other tournaments played within consecutive rating periods of not more than 26 months are pooled to obtain the initial rating. The rating must be at least 1400.

First FIDE-Rated Rapid tournament in the

US Virgin Islands!

​November 30, 2024

1st place - Abram Williams

2nd place - Colin Heim

3rd place - Justin Hair

VI Chess Players - Know your rights according to the legally adopted USVICF Constituion. Don't allow for the statutes to be illegally changed. Please read the USVICF Constitution that has been in effect since March of 2025.

USVI CHESS FEDERATION CONSTITUTION​

copy the link below to view the US Virgin Islands Chess Federation Constituion 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTc92Of3WaYiEAhf-rJ1i5wD_qG88EQZ/edit?



Students from 10 VI Territory Schools competed in three divisions in this five-round chess tournament. Students from St. Croix Montessori, Ricardo Richards Elementary School, St. Croix Educational Complex, Alfredo Andrews Elementary, St. Mary’s  Elementary, Charlotte Amalie High School, All Saints High School, 7th Day Adventist School, Central High School, and Home Schooled students attended the tournament. Winners were:
Under 16 Section
1st place Abram Williams Home School
2nd place Ace Poyah Educational Complex
3rd place Asia Watson Francis Charlotte Amalie
Under 14 Section
1st place Naitik Jhanwar All  Saints
2nd place Leah Williams Home School
3rd place Bella Amore Smith Montessori
Under 10 Section
1st place Lois Williams Home School
2nd place Arlo Zegarelli Montessori
3rd place Imanee Carrol Ricardo Richards
Decorative trophies from Mitchell-Larsen Studio were presented to the winners. The federation thanks the VI Lottery for their generous sponsorship. We also thank all the teachers and parents for attending the event to support their students.
The FIDE Arbiter Margaret Murphy and the National Arbiter Michael Smith acted as the arbiters of the 2024 VI Scholastic Chess Championship Tournament.

Anne Kershaw organized an illegal election of Dec 23, 2023 in which she was fraudulently elected as the new “interim” Secretary of the USVI Chess Federation and Gail Widmer was anointed the “Office Manager” by the fraudulent new “USVICF Board”.
Anne Kershaw and Gail Widmer presented false information to the Bank of St. Croix to take control of the US Virgin Islands Chess Federation's bank account on February 26, 2024.
They continued to falsely claim to be officers of the US Virgin Islands Chess Federation from December of 2023 until May of 2025. On May 23, 2025, the VI Superior Court ruled that their fraudulent “election” held on December 2023, organized by Kershaw was invalid and they were ordered not to hold themselves out as the US Virgin Islands Chess Federation.
From December 23, 2023, to May 23, 2025, Anne Kershaw and Gail Widmer engaged in a campaign of defamation, fraudulent misrepresentation and theft of trade name, of the USVI Chess Federation, publicly, posting statements about the USVICF. Ironically this is exactly what Anne Kershaw has just accused the Plaintiffs of doing in her motion filed the VI Courts.
Simple question to Anne Kershaw and Gail Widmer “Did you present fraudulent documents to the Bank of St Croix and obtain ownership of the USVI Chess Federation bank account on February 26, 2024?”

The 2023 St. Thomas District Chess Championship was held on December 9-10.

St. Thomas District Open Champion is Darryl Allen, 2nd place is Abram Williams and 3rd place is Ger'Lanni Straun.

St. Thomas District Women's Champion is Eva Williams, 2nd place is Leah Williams, and 3rd place is Ruth Laplante

Some of these players have been playing chess together for over 30 years and others were new young students.


Elementary, middle school and high school competed in three divisions in this five round Chess Championship. In the Under 19 Division, the winners were Isaiah Benjamin (1st place), and Nathan Benjamin (2nd place). In the Under 14 Division the winners were Ian Ainger (1st place), William Gentilucci (2nd place),  and Sara Jones (3rd place). Also, honorable mention awards went to Jadora Burke, Stacey Christopher and Taino Esannason. In the Under 10 Division, the winners were Andrew Trotman (1st place), and Joshua Henry (2nd place). Decorative trophies from the Mitchell-Larsen Studio were presented to the students.

Thanks to the VI Lottery for sponsoring this tournament. Special thanks to Ms. Timothy from Ricardo Richards school for attending this event with the students and the parents who were gracious spectators. We also wish to thank USVI Chess Federation members Akelam Romain and Shawn Williams for assisting at this tournament.