Lightning Tournament
Results of games played tonight (4 games per fixture):
George Flitcroft-Smith 4 Gabriel Boross 0
Paul Evans 4 Doug Foster 0
Brian Willcock 4 James Hiller 0 (final 2 games played tonight)
Andrew Robinson 4 Peter Hiller 0
George Flitcroft-Smith 4 Paul Evans 0
Brian Willcock 2 Gabriel Boross 2
George Flitcroft-Smith 4 James Hiller 0
Brian Willcock 3 Peter Hiller 1
Lightning Tournament Report and….. the Transfer Mega-Sneeze
Tonight saw George power his way to 3 consecutive 4-0 wins transforming him into the favourite to win the Lightning Tournament. Should he continue this run and not drop a point in his two remaining sets against Brian and Doug then the tournament is his. Andrew will be hoping that Brian can spring a surprise with some of the more obscure North Korean pawn openings that he has been brushing up on and intensely scrutinising.
Other than the total one-sidedness of the Flitcroft-Smith games there were few surprises on the night until the transfer started. Actually there was only one surprise really – continue reading if you have a strong stomach and all will be revealed! As afficianados of transfer will know, outside of the basic framework of the game, it is anything goes and there are no rules as such. And if there are then they can be broken provided you can get away with it!
An unfortunate sequence commenced where George and Andrew were teamed against Paul and the revolving door (ie the tag-team sister act). The result was a series of games resembling the Oceania World Cup qualifiers (Australia 31 American Samoa 0 for those who have already forgotten). At this point James Hiller, who has just become a fully fledged solicitor, revealed a tactic he could only have learnt at law school. He let out the biggest sneeze since Derek & Clives classic "Long Trail of Snot" skit, sending sputum flying over BOTH of his opponents, in a scene reminiscent of "The Exorcist". Of course this was perfectly legal in transfer and may well make a contribution to transfer opening theory. In the event, both of JH’s opponents lost a good 30 seconds on the clock avoiding death by drowning, then a further 30 seconds enduring the apologies. The game continued and fortunately James lost – thereby invalidating the ‘bucket sneeze’ as a worthwhile tactic in transfer (thank God, otherwise we will have to have showers installed at our venue).
The transfer managed to continue steady-state after Krakatoa for a while, but then the mercy rule was invoked and after 7 innings the mixed doubles ceased and Paul was able to change partners. Play continued until 12.30am when the threat of James explaining the one-day cricket run-rate scenarios became too great and everyone went home.
Oh, and it is believed that there were a few rubbish blitz games after 12.30 but such games can hardly afford a mention really. Also there until near the death were Brian and Doug playing there own version of chess quietly away in the corner (quiet that is until Doug lets out his secret weapon – humming pop numbers from the 1920s!).
Lightning Tournament: Standings after 2 February 2002
All players to play 32 games
|
No. |
NAME |
POINTS |
PLAYED |
|
1 |
Andrew Robinson |
23 |
28 |
|
2 |
George Flitcroft-Smith |
20 |
24 |
|
3 |
Paul Evans |
13½ |
24 |
|
4 |
Brian Willcock |
11½ |
20 |
|
5 |
Gabriel Boross |
7 |
16 |
|
6 |
Peter Hiller |
3 |
20 |
|
7 |
Doug Foster |
2 |
8 |
|
8 |
Harvey Quaresmini |
2 |
8 |
|
9 |
James Hiller |
2 |
20 |
Lightning tournament 2002 results in detail