9 January 2017 - Blitz

Dave Hewitt writes:- A lively and well-contested new year blitz tournament saw 12 players take part and the lead change hands repeatedly. Three draws in r2 allowed Martyn to become clear leader even at that early stage, and he maintained his 100% score by beating me in r3. Jim beat Martyn in r4 to take the lead, but Gordon beat Jim in r5 to move clear in turn. I then beat Gordon in r6 to sneak ahead, before a draw between Bill and me in r7 saw the title shared by Jim, Martyn and me, all on 5/7. The intention had been to play nine rounds, but a good suggestion by Steve was to end it at seven (at about 9pm), as Idris and Alex were about to go home whereupon it would have become tricky to work out legitimate pairings for the remaining ten players. There was consensus on this - plus, as Mick said, we were all a bit brain-dead by then - so we headed home (or, in the case of four of us, to the pub).

A three-way tie seemed a nice way for it to end, and it was something of a blanket finish generally, with nine of the players on 3½ or better. Carl did well again, 4½, and at the other end of the age range Robert T scored what's become his standard 50%, very respectable. Even lower down there were good games and results - Alex beat Idris in the latest of a series of tournament encounters that is likely to stretch away into the future, and although Idris failed to score he was completely winning against Robert in r4 before losing on time.

Full results here. The slightly curious pairings in r1 were due to me mistakenly thinking there were 13 players and that Jim could sit out, only to realise there were actually 12 and Jim needed to play (which he did to very good effect). Also Tom W and Mick were listed in the wrong grading order on the pairing cards for some muddle-headed reason.

Thanks to everyone for making it such an enjoyable tournament - a good mix of decent chess, blunders and swindles as ever. Thanks especially to Steve for lots of help with the pairings.