"Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing" -- Robert HUBNER


Annual Lightning Tournament

: Created:06 Sep 2016 , by Alastair Johnstone

A total of nineteen players contested Ealing's 21st annual Lightning Tournament last night at the Old Actonians.

The usual carnage prevailed in this year's competition with a number of unintentional queen sacs, the occasional illegal move and even a Fools Mate (!) on view alongside some slick trap-laying from others.  Happily, all the players entered into the spirit of the occasion and the whole evening passed by without major incident.

Players were divided into grading groups, with trophies awarded to the winners of each group. To ensure fairness, players are initially matched against others from their group but later in the evening can take on whoever is available. Interestingly, there were a fair number of giant-killing exploits, where grading differences of 60 or more seeemed of nio importance! Cleary, rapid play simply isn't everyone's cup of tea.

In the end, there was a very clear winner of the overall event in the 10-year-old Christopher Tombolis who scored 8/9 losing only to Tony Wells. Speed of thought comes naturally to the young it seems.

In the intermediate group, Jason Obihara won on tie-break from Ollie Wolfe (whose grade at this form of chess is at least 40 points off), both finishing on 6½/9. In the Under-100 group David Housego made a late surge to emerge as victor with 5½/9.

Trophies were awarded to winners of all three groups.

 

Ealing Chess Club: 21st Annual Lightning Tournament
5th September 2016          
           
  Gd. Scores Pts P Position
Adrian Procopie 165 0011101 4 7  
Tony Wells 170 1101½11 7 3rd
Simon Healeas 152 10000011 3 9  
Christopher Tombolis 150 111101111 8 9 1st
Amr Khalil 138 011011½½1 6 9 2nd
Raj Jhooti 145 110½0101 8  
Leslie Pringle 132 10½010000 9  
           
  Gd. Scores Pts P Position
Jason Obihara 135 11011½011 9 1st
Stephen Williams* 130 0111½0100 10 3rd
Christopher Yapp 125 10000½00 8  
Tony Braine 115 10010000 2 9  
David Websdale 109 0½1010100 9  
Ollie Wolfe 78 1011011½1 9 2nd
           
  Gd. Scores Pts P Position
David Housego 94 0011½0111 9 1st
Neville Rowden 71 010001010 3 9  
Michael Smith 83 0100½000 8  
Gerry Blick 91 1000½110 8 3rd
Hosein Akms 75 001½0 5  
Glafcos Tombolis* 100 0111101 5 7 2nd
           
* Not eligible for prize.