Husbands and Wilson still dominant on the chess board

International master Orlando Husbands continued to add to his recent accolades when he captured the Blitz Chess Championship in dramatic fashion over the last weekend.

Blitz chess is a fast form of chess played where each player has three minutes with a 30 second increment from move one for each player and is akin to T20 cricket.

Husbands had to hold off a stiff challenge from Justin Parsons and had to go to a tie-break 3-game playoff to defend his title as both players had finished the initial tournament with eight points from nine games. Eventually, after two competitive games Husbands won the play-off two games to nil and began the year as he had finished last year with a coveted tournament victory

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Both Husbands and Parsons had shown their recent good form by topping the event, Parsons had one loss to Husbands and Husbands suffered a massive upset against the top female junior player Hannah Wilson in round 8. This result is what led to the playoff.

Finishing in third position was Adam Roachford who scored six and a half points. He suffered losses against the two top players but again gave the eventual winner of the event a run for his money.

Louis Wilson took the 1600 – 1400 rating prize with five points from nine but struggled in some of his games due to the faster time control.

Dr. Carlos Chase and Samuel Greenidge shared the Under 1400/ unrated prize, both scoring five points also. Dr. Chase would have garnered bragging rights in the event when he defeated fellow physician Dr. Alfred Sparman in the penultimate round.

Again, the female championship was played with the open as it was undersubscribed.

Hannah Wilson proved her prowess by winning the title with seven and a half points from nine. Chanon Reifer-Belle finished in second with five and a half points, while Kiarra Eversley finished third with four points.

The winner of the Under 1400/unrated prize was Erika Alkins with three points.

Twenty players participated in the event, with a mixture of youth and experience to make it an excitingstart to the chess year. (PR)