Result: Stuart Holt 0 Luthien Russell 1
Luthien Russell captured the Maiden Trophy with victory in the game.
One Hour Tournament 2004 results in detail, including Maiden Trophy play-off
One Hour – summary
George Flitcroft-Smith finally succeeded in winning a tournament after so many recent near misses. He was the most consistent player of the tournament who only lost one game to Debbie. George benefited from a free point when giant killer Peter Hiller forfeited against him – after beating the players who finished third, fourth and fifth in the tournament. However, George was a deserved and popular winner of the One Hour tournament.
Tony Howes has a shock loss to Peter Hiller in round one and never recovered the lost ground. However he had a degree of consistency after this to claim outright second, with his only further loss to Stuart Holt. Tony will be hoping to go one better next year.
Luthien Russell played up to her ability and possibly surpassed this, with an accomplished performance to achieve third playing. Her knowledge and experience, which despite her being ten years is probably greater than most of the other players in this tournament contributed to her suffering only two losses and claiming the Maiden Trophy in a play-off with Stuart Holt (thus ensuring that this trophy remains in female hands!).
Andrew Robinson had a poor tournament losing three games in a rated tournament for the first time since 1996. He started well winning against defending champion Harvey Quaresmini, but suffered from Harvey’s withdrawal which meant that this prized point was scrubbed from the final table. Like Tony, Andrew never recovered from losing to Peter Hiller, and never looked like winning the deciding final match against George.
Stuart Holt had an appalling start to this tournament losing his first three games and being on 1.5 points after 6 games. This included a very unlucky loss to Andrew Robinson in round 2 when his time ran out with one move to checkmate. However he had a run of good results in the second half including a win over Tony Howes, which propelled him into fifth place and the Maiden play-off match.
Debbie Jenkins had a reasonable run of results but would have been disappointed after her fine display in the Flood Cup. She was the only player to beat George, but lost to Brian and gave away a silly draw to Peter Hiller to finish towards mid-table.
Peter Hiller had the strangest tournament that possibly only a Hiller would be capable of. He performed magnificently against the stronger players beating Tony, Luthien and Andrew across the board, but lost to Brian, John and Marty to finish in seventh. More consistency against the bottom half of the draw would have seen him in with a chance of a top three finish.
Brian Willcock had a stange run of results. He lost his first 4 games, some of which he gave away in winning position (the John Curran game comes to mind). Then Brian hit a purple patch winning his next 3 including a fine win over Debbie – who for some reason still can’t pick Brian’s openings! The Brian lost 2, and then he won 2 to end up with 5 wins from 11 games and eighth place.
John Curran recovered well to recover from the first round shock of losing to James and achieving ninth place. He capitalised on a blunder from Brian to notch up his best win of the tournament.
Marty Chadwick often played well and stretched most of the top players but often just missed out on achieving results at the end. After his last round win over Harvey in the Flood Cup hopes were high, and this tournament should see him with further experience to achieve more upset wins next year.
James Hiller achieved his best tournament result to date due to his single shock victory over John Curran in the first round. Despite Stuart Wilson beating James in Round 9, James had done enough to avoid last place for the first time in Gap tournament history due to tie-beak calculations.
Stuart Wilson certainly could have achieved a better result in this tournament by paying more attention to his time in the final stages. Against Peter he had a slight advantage before losing on time, but the ultimate travesty was his game with Marty when his time ran out when he was four pieces up. Still, he managed to beat James this time to retain his unbeaten record against this rival.
One Hour tournament 2004: Final standings
All players to play 11 games
|
No. |
NAME |
POINTS |
PLAYED |
|
1 |
9 |
11 |
|
|
2 |
8½ |
11 |
|
|
3 |
7½ |
11 |
|
|
4 |
7½ |
11 |
|
|
5 |
7½ |
11 |
|
|
6 |
6½ |
11 |
|
|
7 |
5½ |
11 |
|
|
8 |
5 |
11 |
|
|
9 |
3½ |
11 |
|
|
10 |
3½ |
11 |
|
|
11 |
1 |
11 |
|
|
12 |
1 |
11 |
One Hour tournament 2004 results in detail
Allegro tournament
Eight series of 2 games and a single game were played tonight. The major upset of the night was Stuart winning his first Allegro games since 1986 (OK, so he hasn’t entered the Allegro since 1986, but it was still a surprise). Other upsets nearly occurred with John having a Q+N v Q+P ending against Andrew in the second game (he allowed the knight to be captured then allowed the queens to be swapped). Marty came very close to a draw against Andrew, with the finish coming down to king position in a pawn endgame. The game was only decided when Andrew gained the opposition after choosing just the right moment to swap rooks.
Debbie doesn’t want any reports of her games. However she acknowledged that her losses were also contributed to by her opponents’ good play.
Results:
George 2 Marty 0
John 2 Stuart W 0
Tony 2 Debbie 0
Andrew 2 John 0
George 2 Debbie 0
Marty 1 Stuart W 1
George 1 Luthien 1
John 0 Tony 1 (1 game only played)
Andrew 2 Marty 0
Allegro 2004: Current standings
All players to play 30 games
|
No. |
NAME |
POINTS |
PLAYED |
|
1 |
Andrew Robinson |
12 |
12 |
|
2 |
George Flitcroft-Smith |
10 |
12 |
|
3 |
Ray Adams |
7 |
10 |
|
4 |
Tony Howes |
3 |
3 |
|
5 |
Stuart Holt |
3 |
4 |
|
6 |
Peter Hiller |
3 |
6 |
|
7 |
Brian Willcock |
2½ |
6 |
|
8 |
John Curran |
2½ |
7 |
|
9 |
Marty Chadwick |
2 |
10 |
|
10 |
Luthien Russell |
1 |
2 |
|
11 |
Stuart Wilson |
1 |
8 |
|
12 |
Harvey Quaresmini |
0 |
0 |
|
13 |
Dusan Smrek |
0 |
0 |
|
14 |
Debbie Jenkins |
0 |
4 |
|
15 |
James Hiller |
0 |
4 |
|
16 |
Adam Lucas |
0 |
6 |
Allegro tournament 2004 results in detail
Several quotes tonight…
“I’m trying to put myself in the mind of a Hiller” – says George aspiring to the quote of the week, and then he grabs it by adding “… but I can’t do bumcracks.” (maybe James can show him next week?! – ed)
“I aspire to be bald” – George
“I just had a brain explosion” – Marty explaining why he had just blown a good position against visitor John Guest (pieces of his brain were still found stuck to the ceiling at the end of the night)
“I wouldn’t beat James on my form tonight… I’m serious!” – Debbie
“After playing at Toowoomba I was determined to get out of a 1200 rut... I’m stuck in a 1300 rut at the moment” – Debbie