Played: 4 October 2022
Cross table
Pos Name and rating Pts | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | Cmlt BucT
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
1 Freeman, Ashley 1937 5.5 | +B14 +W 2 +B 7 +W 6 +B 5 =W 4 | 20.5 21.5
2 Staniland, Philip 1865 5.0 | +W 9 -B 1 +W 4 +B12 +W 3 +B10 | 16.0 21.5
3 Karacsony, Istvan 1592 4.0 | +B17 +W16 -B 6 +W 7 -B 2 +W 8 | 15.0 18.5
4 Cawdery, John 2044 4.0 | +B11 =W 6 -B 2 +W14 +B 7 =B 1 | 14.0 22.0
5 Barclay, Paul R 1730 4.0 | -B15 +W18 +B14 +W 8 -W 1 +B 9 | 13.0 17.0
6 Whitton, Terry D 1906 3.5 | +B18 =B 4 +W 3 -B 1 -W10 +W13 | 13.5 18.5
7 Murrell, Mark R A 1907 3.0 | +W10 +B13 -W 1 -B 3 -W 4 +B12 | 12.0 20.5
8 Nigrelli, Vittorio 1626 3.0 | -W13 +B10 +W 9 -B 5 +W12 -B 3 | 11.0 18.0
9 Siannis, Theo 1300 3.0 | -B 2 +W11 -B 8 +W13 +B17 -W 5 | 10.0 18.0
10 Demetriou, Jay 1352 3.0 | -B 7 -W 8 +B17 +W11 +B 6 -W 2 | 9.0 18.5
11 Smith, David 1525 3.0 | -W 4 -B 9 +W18 -B10 +W14 +B17 | 7.0 13.0
12 Jestico, John V 1430 2.0 | -B16 +W17 +B13 -W 2 -B 8 -W 7 | 9.0 17.0
13 Read, Paul 1182 2.0 | +B 8 -W 7 -W12 -B 9 +W18 -B 6 | 8.0 14.5
14 Jacob, Huw D 1383 2.0 | -W 1 +B19 -W 5 -B 4 - B11 +W18 | 6.0 19.0
15 Veselow, Zoe 1275 1.0 | +W 5 -- -- -- -- -- | 6.0 19.0
16 Hunnable, Ian D 2024 1.0 | +W12 -B 3 -- -- -- -- | 6.0 17.0
17 O'Regan, A Fin 1037 1.0 | -W 3 -B12 -W10 +B18 -W 9 -W11 | 3.0 15.0
18 White, Nigel 1320 0.0 | -W 6 -B 5 -B11 -W17 -B13 -B14 | 0.0 15.5
19 Murphy, Charlie 1100 0.0 | -- -W14 -- -- -- -- | 0.0 12.5
Generated by Vega - www.vegachess.com
Synopsis of format
- 6 Rounds
- Swiss pairing
- 10 second buzzer
- Organiser: Mark Murrell, Controller: Ian Hunnable
Tournament report
Eighteen players sat down to play Round 1 of the Lightning Championship, but this was reduced to 16 after Round 2 and the withdrawal of two of our newest members, who each played one round, found that Lightning chess was not for them, and Controller Ian Hunnable, who only plays as a “filler” if there is otherwise an odd number of players, stood down after two rounds, no filler by then being needed.
At the start of Round 3 there were three players with 2/2: Ashley Freeman, Istvan Karacsony and Mark Murrell. Defending Champion John Cawdery and Terry Whitton had dropped half a point when they drew their individual game, so each had 1½/2. In that round, Ashley defeated Mark and Terry beat Istvan, while John Cawdery had his chances dealt a serious blow when he lost to Philip Staniland.
After 3: Ashley, 3/3; Terry 2½ followed by six players on 2/3.
Round 4: Ashley continued his scorching pace, defeating speed-ace Terry, while Istvan beat Mark. Ashley had now pulled out a one point lead – after just four rounds!
After 4: Ashley 4/4; Paul Barclay, Philip, Istvan, 3.
Round 5: Ashley continued his rout, accounting for Paul Barclay, while Philip, haing lost to Ashley in Round 2, cast himself as his closest challenger when beating Istvan.
After 5: Ashley 5/5; Philip 4, John C 3½; and five players on 3.
Round 6, final round: Philip beat Jay Demetriou to reach a finishing score of 5/6, then waited on Ashley, paired against John C. Despite appearances of a “grandmaster draw”, make no mistake, this was a full-blooded battle! Ashley had mounted a blanket assault of his central pawns and it was looking grim for John. But with Ashley’s advance having reached a point where it was held static, he needed to regroup to fashion a second-phase breakthrough. While Ashley was engaged in manoeuvres, John began a skillful fightback on the Q-side and when he had spirited up two passed pawns, Ashley having already abandoned his stalled assault, now had to stem the tide against him on the other wing. This he managed easily enough and when one of the passed-ers fell, a draw was agreed. But a draw was all Ashley needed to become the new Lightning Champion.
Final leading scores: 1st Ashley Freeman, 5½/6; 2nd Philip Staniland, 5; =3rd Istvan Karacsony, John Cawdery, Paul Barclay, 4. 19 players
Many congratulations to Ashley Freeman on his first Lightning Championship – an achievement all the more remarkable when we reveal that he was feeling second best having had a tooth extraction that day!