Lightning Tournament [Current Standings]
Sets 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.
Standings after 11 January 2002
All players to play 28 games
|
No. |
NAME |
POINTS |
PLAYED |
|
1 |
13 |
16 |
|
|
2 |
5½ |
12 |
|
|
3 |
5 |
8 |
|
|
4 |
4½ |
10 |
|
|
5 |
2 |
8 |
|
|
6 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
7 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
8 |
0 |
6 |
Click here for the full crosstable of the 2002 Lightning Tournament.