Husbands completes another national treble

Barbados’ most decorated chess player over the past five years, Orlando Husbands, has completed an amazing treble of national titles for the second time.

The 23-year-old International Master secured his third major title for the year by narrowly winning the National Blitz title on Sunday.

Contested as an online event for the first time, the Championship was a straight fight between Husbands and 2019 champion Justin Blackman with both players finishing with eight out of a maximum nine points.

The first two tie-breaks failed to settle the deadlock but Husbands prevailed on the third tie-break to duplicate the treble he first achieved in 2018 when he became the first player to simultaneously hold the three major senior national championships – Open, Rapid and Blitz.

It was an exciting event in which Husbands suffered a shock defeat against 18-year-old Adam Roachford in the second round.

Husbands, however, was back on level terms with Blackman when he defeated the Caribbean Blitz Online champion in the fifth round. Neither player dropped a point for the final four rounds, forcing the Championship to be decided on the tie-breaks.

It was the second straight week that Husbands, who was crowned the National Open champion for third time in October, prevailed over Blackman for a title, having defeated the 29-year-old FIDE Master in a play-off to win the National Rapid Championship the previous Sunday.

Nitin Mahtani took third place in the fast-paced Blitz Championship with six-and-a-half points, having lost only to Husbands and Blackman.

Justin Parsons was fourth with six points and the top five was completed by 13-year-old Melvin Terence, who ended with five points.

Terence also won the prize for the Best Player rated under 1600, while Louis Wilson, who was sixth with four-and-a-half points, took the prize for the Best Player rated under 1400.

Kiarra Eversley, who completed the top half of the 14-player field with four-and-a-half points, was the Best Female.

The Barbados Chess Federation’s 2020 calendar of events will conclude with the Michael Forde Memorial Championship which starts on Thursday at the Chess Centre on Exmouth Gap, Brandons, St. Michael. It will run over seven rounds and concludes on December 20. (BCF)