DAVION Mars ended 2020 with back-to-back chess victories. After copping the National Rapid Chess Championships last Sunday, the 25-year-old stormed his way to the National Blitz Chess Championship on Thursday afternoon. Both events were held at the Guyana National Stadium.
Meanwhile, Keron Sandiford excelled in the Junior Division to win the Junior Blitz title.

KEEPING HIS COMPOSURE
Mars told Chronicle Sport that he was elated to have earned the double, which is a first in his career.
He said he was able to keep his composure and regulate his time in the fast version of the game.
“I approached the Blitz mentally as an isolated event. I had to understand that while it’s Blitz, with a faster time control, anything could happen. It felt great winning back-to-back titles. For me, though, classical chess is the best because I like to play as accurate as I can.”

Mars said moving forward his hope is to also dominate in classical chess.
Both Rapid and Blitz are faster versions of classical chess. Blitz is, however, at an express level.
Since Anthony Drayton opted not to defend his title, Mars was an early favourite. He, however, had several quality players to battle. From his 11 games, he finished with 10 wins; his only blemish was to Gilbert Williams in Round Seven.

He also had a scare against Junior Rapid Champion, Joshua Gopaul, who lost the match after playing an illegal move in a winning position. All of his other games were convincing wins.

Sandiford, whose only defeat was to Mars, finished second overall. Gopaul, who played his last junior competition, finished second in that division, while Jessica Callender finished as the third best junior.
Third place overall went to veteran player Rai Sharma, who ended with eight wins and three losses (to Saniford, Mars and Williams).

Gopaul finished fourth overall, while Williams finished fifth, Uddhav Bagwandeen sixth and Callender seventh.
The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) Director of Tournaments, Rashad Hussain, applauded the executives and players for making the championships possible.

He said that last Thursday’s competition was the first FIDE rated Blitz chess tournament in the history of Guyana. “I’m pleased to have ended 2020 on that note, with new champions being crowned. I would like to thank the GCF executives and players for supporting chess tournaments in 2020.
“It’s time to look forward to 2021, which, if things go according to plan, will be a more productive year.”