20th Annual Lightning Tournament
: Created:18 Aug 2015 , by Alastair JohnstoneAn enthusisastic field of 20 assembled at the Old Actonians last night to contest the 20th edition of Ealing's annual Lightning Tournament. Over the course of the evening some 85 games were completed and I'm happy to report that, although all were sternly competed, here wasn't a single dispute or ugly moment.
The field was split into three grading bands: Open, Under-145 and Under-125 with players encouraged to seek out players in their own band where possible.
It looked like a shock was on the cards in the Open section when the 12-year-old Alfie Onslow took an early lead with wins against both Mike Lambshire and Tim Joslin and a draw against Simon Randall giving him 2½/3 against the highest-graded players in the field. But a loss against Leslie Pringle together with a late run from Simon meant that Alfie had to settle for 2nd place with the crown going to Simon. Final score were: 1st Simon Randall 9/11, 2nd Alfie Onslow 7/9, 3rd= Mike Lambshire and Sam Sarna 6/9.
Amr Khalil, despite starting as the lowest graded player in the section, vanquished all-comers in the Under-145 section to finish with a tremendous 7½/9. Our two guests for the evening, father and son Mike and Chris Baker-Munton finished in joint second with 6/10 each.
Honours were shared in the Under-125 section between Steven Clark and Simon Connor with 4½/9 each.