Lightning Tournament
Results of games played tonight (4 games per fixture):
Andrew Robinson 3 Brian Willcock 1
Paul Evans 2½ Brian Willcock 1½
Andrew Robinson 3 Gabriel Boross 1
Gabriel Boross 4 Peter Hiller 0
Andrew Robinson 4 James Hiller 0
Andrew Robinson 3 Paul Evans 1
Paul Evans 2 Peter Hiller 2
Brian Willcock 2 James Hiller 0 (two games to be played)
The year’s competitive play commenced with the start of the Lightning Tournament. Several sets of 4 games were played, with the usual spectacular and unpredictable finishes that Blitz Chess is apt to produce. In fact it parallels the one day form of cricket in many ways, although the spectators are better behaved (usually!).
In the very first game of the year, the importance of history was shown. It repeated itself once more, this time in the form of an unforeseen queen sacrifice on the part of Mr Willcock as a gesture of New Year goodwill to Mr Robinson. After this the gloves were off and Brian claimed victory upon an illegal move (king exposed), in a game he was winning. Score now 1-1. Game 3 was a slow annihilation of Brian by the club’s reigning lightning champion, however Game 4 was the one that got the blood boiling. At one point Andrew had 14 seconds left, Brian over a minute together with a rook advantage plus 3 or 4 passed pawns. However Brian’s flag fell while Andrew still had a comfortable 4 seconds left, and a lone pawn which secured victory. Brian’s doctor has subsequently advised that the nervous tick he acquired as the result of the game should subside in the coming months.
The clash of the previous two year’s champions saw games littered with mistakes as the cobwebs came off at the start of the year. Game one saw Gabriel Boross move his queen into peril for no advantage leading to a hasty resignation. In game two Gabby had a clock and positional advantage, but squandered this on a miscalculated exchange. Game three was decided with a sudden checkmate on the h2-b7 diagonal with bishop and queen that Andrew had overlooked. Game four saw Gabby unaccountably give away a piece in the opening and not recover from this early setback.
The Boross-P Hiller games were mostly settled on the clock. Occasionally Peter would build up an advantage on the board, but his funerial rate of play seems unsuited to Blitz. The fact that he often called his own flag fall did not help!
Paul Evans has returned to the club after a period of absence and immediately made an impression gaining two wins and a draw against Brian. Then, in his first game against Andrew he was rook + knight + 6 pawns against rook + 3 pawns when he moved his knight diagonally one space to capture a pawn. Once the clock was hit Andrew claimed victory due to the illegal move (which is allowed under the rules of lightning play). Andrew proceeded to steamroll Paul in the next two games, but came unstuck in game four to yield a fair result in the end of 3-1 (although Paul claimed justice would have been done by 2-2).
Paul played Peter Hiller around 11pm and managed a 2-2 result. Not much is known about these games and Paul wasn’t keen to talk about it! 11pm is not the best time for serious chess, but then some would argue that lightning chess isn’t serious anyway.
In other games James was present on the other side of the board from his respective opponents.
After the tournament play was over only the hardcore chess fanatics were left and it was TRANSFER time. Transfer is an odd variation on chess using two boards and four players, with captured pieces being made available to your partner – victory for your team may be secured by checkmate or on time (5min). Unfortunately James Hiller contrived ways of being mated (by his brother!) within the shortest possible period. It was a horrible sight and chess was called off for the night just after midnight.
Lightning Tournament: Standings after 11 January 2002
All players to play 28 games
|
No. |
NAME |
POINTS |
PLAYED |
|
1 |
Andrew Robinson |
13 |
16 |
|
2 |
Paul Evans |
5½ |
12 |
|
3 |
Gabriel Boross |
5 |
8 |
|
4 |
Brian Willcock |
4½ |
10 |
|
5 |
Peter Hiller |
2 |
8 |
|
6 |
Doug Foster |
0 |
0 |
|
7 |
Harvey Quaresmini |
0 |
0 |
|
8 |
James Hiller |
0 |
6 |
Lightning tournament 2002 results in detail