Fifteen year old FM Joshua Johnson has added the National Blitz Championship to his impressive collection of chess achievements.
The Fatima College student played unbeaten to finish the nine-round tournament on eight points, a full point ahead of second-placed FM Ryan Harper and ahead of a field of 17 players. He conceded draws to the brothers CM Vishnu Singh, national champion, and Mahendra Singh who both scored five and a half points, placing fifth and sixth.
Johnson's victory in the blitz contest caps a notable year in the sport which saw him gaining the FM title at the Central American and Caribbean Chess Festival in Palmyra, Colombia, last October. Playing in the Under 16 (Absolute) category, Johnson scored 7.5 points from nine games, topping a field of 31 players. His performance was notable as he outplayed a number of top-rated youngsters from Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba. A week before, at the Olympiad in Tromso, Denmark, the Fatima College boy registered the best score among T&T's five-man team.
Earlier in the year, at the Sub-Zonals in Port-of-Spain, Johnson emerged the top-ranked junior and at the Paladins Open he took second place to FM Harper.
CM Kevin Cupid and FM Frank Yee, both on sixth points, took the third and fourth spots in the National Blitz.
Five players scored five points, CM Ravishen Singh, CM Adrian Winter Atwell, CM Cesar Ramos Caldera, Hayden Lee and Mikel Martin.