Prize Night Tournament - Handicap Lightning
Prize Night
The night commenced with the presentation of prizes to tournament and trophy winner for 2007. This ceremony was remarkably short because none of the prize winners from 2007 apart from Andrew showed up to collect their prizes!
Handicap Lightning Tournament
The Handicap Lightning tournament started tonight with a preliminary round in 2 groups. Once again there were 12 entrants, as coincidentally there have been in every year since 2000. The groups were drawn at random. The top two in each group progressed to the semi-finals.
The handicap system is based on a system of handicaps awarded on playing strength. The handicaps are determined by rating, with 2000+ players having a zero handicap (‘playing off scratch’), 1900-1999 having a ½ point handicap, 1800-1899 1 point etc etc, down to a player under 799 has a 6.5 point handicap. Before each game the difference between the 2 players’ handicaps is calculated, with the lower rated player having 5 minutes in the game to make all moves. The higher rated player is allocated 5 minutes minus the handicap difference (but must have at least one minute). For example, if the difference is 1.5 then the higher rated player will receive 3.5 minutes to make their moves.
|
Group A |
POINTS |
Handicap |
|
Andrew Robinson |
5 |
0.0 |
|
Brendan Griffen |
4 |
0.0 |
|
Josh Ford |
3 |
2.5 |
|
Peter Ford |
2 |
1.5 |
|
Mathew Colwell |
1 |
2.5 |
|
Matthew Bester |
0 |
3.5 |
This group went mainly to form except for Josh’s win over his father. Brendan was a piece up but came unstuck to a powerful Bd3-h7+ (Q on c2; R on d1 and Black’s queen on d8). Peter was easily winning against Andrew but lost on time in a time scramble.
|
Group B |
POINTS |
Handicap |
|
Nathan Shaw |
5 |
1.5 |
|
Jonathan Bester |
4 |
2.5 |
|
Greg Colwell |
2 |
1.5 |
|
Ray Adams |
2 |
1.0 |
|
Thomas Robinson |
2 |
3.0 |
|
James Hiller |
0 |
3.5 |
Jonathan Bester played above expectations to knock off some of his more experienced opponents to reach the semi-finals. Ray had difficulty adjusting to the time control in the round-robin stage.
Semi Finals
Andrew Robinson – Jonathan Bester 1-0
Nathan Shaw – Brendan Griffen 0-1
Andrew lost a piece then Jonathan lost a piece and with time pressure from the start it seemed like one of those games, until Jonathan moved a pinned piece and lost on an illegal move. Nathan fell foul of the touch move rule and lost his queen for a knight, thus removing any advantage he had on the clock. This was Nathan’s only loss of the night.
Third Place Match
Nathan Shaw – Jonathan Bester 1-0
Final
Andrew Robinson – Brendan Griffen ½-½ 0-1
The first game finished with each player having only a king and rook. Andrew had 40 seconds to Brendan’s 20 seconds, but accepted Brendan’s draw offer, deeming to play on not to be in the spirit of chess. The replay saw Andrew gain an advantage midway but fritter it away through ineffectual moves against a solid defensive line of Brendan’s. Brendan had a couple of pawns up in a rook ending and this saw him through to victory.
CONSOLATION MATCHES
5-8 Classification
Semi-F Josh Ford – Ray Adams 0-1
Semi-F Greg Colwell – Peter Ford 1-0
5-6 Match Greg Colwell – Ray Adams 0-1
7-8 Match Josh Ford – Peter Ford 0-1
9-12 Classification
Semi-F Mathew Colwell – James Hiller 0-1
Semi-F Thomas Robinson – Matthew Bester 1-0
9-10 Match Thomas Robinson – James Hiller 1-0
11-12 Match Mathew Colwell – Matthew Bester 1-0
Further information:
Past winners of the Handicap Lightning tournament (with index to past tournaments)
Results of tonight’s tournament in are presented here in detail.
Other incidents
Brendan was noted playing a warm-up game with Jonathan while conducting a conversation on the mobile phone (and setting a very poor example for the juniors). Andrew then re-enacted a famous incident from the 2005 Qld Teams Championship and announced in a distinctive voice that Brendan had forfeited the game subject to Article 12.2(b) of the Laws of Chess and re-set the pieces.
Brian Willcock arrived as the first round was underway. Brian spent the rest of the evening claiming that Andrew had purposefully excluded him “because he was scared of him”. However Brian confirmed his insanity with his irrational belief that the Roar will win on Sunday and that such devotion to one’s faith necessitates a weekend pilgrimage to Newcastle.
Quote of the night
“Today’s my 22nd wedding anniversary. I knocked off work an hour early… to come to chess!” – Greg
“Better get some fresh air, I think” – Nathan going out onto the verandah to puff on some poison.
“Maybe I’ll just push around a few singles” – Nathan, eerily similar to a quote from last year’s Prize Night (great legal minds think alike?)