Just after play commenced a debate was commenced by Mr Willcock on the interpretation of what should occur if the king is captured, as has been the custom for many years in lightning play. One of the world’s most respected arbiters, Guert Gijssen has written in his column in chesscafe.com that king capture is an illegal move and should therefore constitute the loss of the game (pursuant to his interpretation of the current FIDE rules). Debate occurred on this and the final non-resolution was that we will wait until an incident occurs, and then make a decision. The club’s DOP noted that most lightning incidents occur about other issues, and on the night this proved to be so. (Read on…!)
Most of the results turned out one-sided, however most of the contests were anything but this. Paul appeared rusty as he was only able to claim a draw from Harvey. Andrew looked headed for a 4-0 scoreline against Brian until using a Willcock special in game 3 (Queen left en pris) – games 1 and 2 had been hard fought.
Most controversy on the night surrounded the Quaresmini-Fitcroft-Smith encounter. In the first game Harvey claimed a win for an illegal move. George had captured with a rook moving from d1 to d8 (giving him a 2 rook v bishop advantage), but Harvey thought the rook had been moved from e1, and complained that George had moved before he had hit the clock (George was in time trouble). Unfortunately there were no witnesses who would testify and so the players agreed to replay the game. The replay of Game 1 saw Harvey a piece up with George under 30 seconds. At this point Harvey blundered horribly and lost a queen. George managed to scramble a checkmate with pieced flying, 2 seconds left on his clock, and Harvey king knocked off the board (Harvey replaced it and complained). Harvey was rattled after this and lost the next 3 game. The final game had Harvey again with an advantage (R+PvB+P) and a few seconds up, but George’s ‘blustering’ style once again flustered Harvey who missed a simple chance to get at least a draw by exchanging his rook for the bishop and pawn.
Barry Cox showed up again this week but declined the opportunity to enter the lightning tournament.
Results:
George 4 John 0
Harvey 3½ Paul ½
Andrew 3 Brian 1
Paul 4 John 0
George 4 Harvey 0
George 3 Brian 1
The combination of Andrew & George won 5 games vs Harvey & Paul 2. Play finished just after midnight. (Harvey & Paul won games 3 and 7).