Teacher grabs Algico Blitz chess

A SECONDARY school teacher is the new Algico National Blitz Chess Champion. On Saturday Michael Pouchet denied Christo Cave his second national title in two weeks when he pipped him for the Blitz honours at the Student Activity Centre, University of the West Indies, St Augustine. Pouchet, 36, is an Advanced Mathematics teacher at St Francois Girls’ College in Belmont and attained success in his first competitive attempt at the shortened version of the game. In third place was FIDE Master Mario Merritt. The tournament was organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Chess Association headed by Bhisham Soondarsingh and sponsored for the second year by Algico, an insurance company. Pouchet, originally a Diego Martin native who now lives in Tacarigua said he was pleased with his winning performance. He admitted at not being among the favourites on Saturday but his hours of practice paid off in the end as he topped a high-class field to emerge victorious. “On the day I came out the best player because everything clicked. I concentrated well and did not make too many errors,” said the soft-spoken Pouchet, who has the reputation of being a  brilliant mathematician.

He has been in the frontline of local chess for many years but the Algico Blitz success will mark his breakthrough into an elite group and brand him as one to beat in future tournaments. Pouchet has represented Trinidad and Tobago overseas, notably in the Chess Olympiad of 1998 in Russia. He was also selected to travel to Turkey three years ago but did not go because of financial constraints. He said his skills have been honed by years of study and practice against top opponents since his schooldays. It is an effort which finally paid off in the quickfire Blitz showdown which attracted 24 participants. Overall Pouchet won seven of his nine games and ended tied with Cave on seven points but he won the tie-break on an established scoring system which takes into consideration the calibre of the players defeated in the early rounds as opposed to the latter part of the tournament. In this case Pouchet’s conquests were deemed more worthy than Cave’s when the comparison was made to determine the winner of the Algico Championship. Soondarsingh said the insurance company has been a loyal supporter of the sport and apart from the Blitz Championships also offer valuable incentives and prizes to the Palladins and Knights Club tournaments respectively.

Honour Roll
National Championship: 1 Christo Cave; 2 Ryan Harper; 3 Cecil Lee; 4 Mario Merritt; 5 Ravishen Singh
National Women’s Championship: 1 Desire Derrick; 2 Aditi Soondarsingh; 3 Sinead Furlong.
National Blitz Championship: 1 Michael Pouchet; 2 Christo Cave; 3 Mario Merritt