John Paul the Great 8th Annual Tournament

Belize Chess Federation
18 hours ago
2 min read

On Saturday 21st February 2026 John Paul the Great College held its 8th Annual Chess tournament! The John Paul tournament is Belize's longest running Annual event and this years edition featured 40 players.

National Champion Alfred Awe joined the event as well as Rank 6 Luis Mendez Jr. who won the 2026 edition of the event. Gregory McGibney joined as the highest ranked Junior player Junior player.

Chess Clubs from several schools attended the event including: Mount Carmen High School, St. Ignatius High School, Howard Smith Nazarene Primary School, Belize Christian Academy and Sacred Heart.

Special thanks to Nick Cox for organizing the event and serving as our tournament director and to John Paul the Great College for hosting the event!

As with all John Paul Tournaments, the event started with a short prayer before the first round.

Tournament Highlights

In round 2, NM Alfred Awe, playing in his first event after retaining his National Champion Title, was defeated by Wei Zhen from Mount Carmen High School who played a phenomenal game. An impressive feat from Wei delivering the National Champion his first defeat to a U16 player in a rapid event!

Round 3 had a matchup between Sacred Heart School Coach Aidan Flores and St Ignatius High School Coach Yann Monnier. Yann defeated his fellow coach.

in Round 4, Gregory McGibney was unable to upset Luis Mendez Jr. and lost the game.

Round 5

Continuing their Rivalry, Gregory McGibney leads in his Head to Head against Yann Monnier 2.5-0.5, Yann was unable to score his first win against Gregory but they settled the game peacefully with a draw.

Wei Zhen defeated his coach Carlos Ruiz to secure an impressive 4/5 score clinching 2nd place in the event!