Candidate Master Taffin Khan assiduously worked his way through sixteen rounds of play to achieve the National Blitz Chess Championship title last Sunday, March 16th, 2025, in the Exhibition Room of the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre. The tournament lasted a few hours and was staged one day after the 2025 National Rapid Chess Championship.
The extremely grueling, faster-paced eleven-round Swiss format tournament featured a time control of 3 minutes with 2-second increments per player. The tournament saw some interesting matchups and upsets, leading to the semifinal knockout round, where the final four top finishers faced off across the board.
Leading in the top four were FM Anthony Drayton, CM Taffin Khan, CM Sachin Pitamber, and Kyle Couchman, who entered the second phase. The competition became increasingly challenging when the top seeds, Drayton and Khan, faced off against the top juniors Couchman and Pitamber.
However, the juniors were no match for the top seeds in the knockout phase as Drayton and Khan emerged as the winners, leaving Couchman and Pitamber to play for third and fourth positions.
The Drayton/Khan match for the championship ended in high drama, where at the end of 2 games, the players were tied at one point each, triggering the Armageddon Round. For this game, the player with the white pieces starts with 5 minutes on the clock and must win outright to gain the point. The player with the dark pieces begins with 4 minutes and would be declared the winner if the game ends in a draw or a win by black. Khan won the toss and played white and proceeded to bring Drayton’s unbeaten streak to an end.
Drayton settled for second place after coming very close to winning his second championship title for the year. Couchman took third place, while Pitamber came in fourth.
The fifth place went to CM Loris Nathoo, who ended with 6.5 points, while Saeed Ali took sixth also with 6.5 points. WCM Aditi Joshi and Keron Sandiford placed seventh and eighth with 6 points, respectively. Notable performances came from Mahir Rajkumar, Prince Dunn, Kim Shing Chong, Oluwadare Oyeyipo, and Aravinda
Singh, who all finished with 6 points. The Chief Arbiter for the tournament was FIDE Arbiter John Lee.
The top five players received a total of $115,000 in cash prizes, sponsored by the Guyana Chess Federation at a post-tournament ceremony. Khan was awarded the championship trophy, and the sixth and seventh-place winners earned a free month’s membership to the Pegasus Chess Club.
The GCF extends thanks to the management of the Guyana Pegasus Hotel for providing the venue for the weekend tournaments.
