Blitz Championship 2021-22

The Club Blitz Championship 2021-22 was played on 4 January 2022

Twenty-four members entered and once again we witnessed keen competition.

The evening opened with an upset when Istvan (1592, seeded 13) defeated John Hodgson (2215, seeded 1). This was the start of a stellar evening for Istvan and put John on catch-up all the way. The other fancied contenders, John Cawdery (Club Champion), Ashley Freeman, Terry Whitton (defending Blitz Champion), all won.

Istvan filed another stellar result, defeating Terry Whitton, who at the start of the evening held the triple-speed-crown. No grief for the other contenders.

Round 3 was a calmer round, with no upsets. Leaders after three: John Cawdery, Ashley Freeman, Istvan Karacsony, 3/3.

Ashley dealt Istvan his first loss in Round 4, while John Cawdery beat Philip Staniland to join Ashley as the only players still on 100%.

The two leaders were paired in R5 and the issue crystalised as John C beat Ashley to take the sole lead for the first time. Istvan got back on the winning trail against Mark Murrell and John H continued his recovery in dealing Terry his second defeat. Leaders with one round to go: 1 John Cawdery, 5/5; =2 Ashley Freeman, John Hodgson, Istvan Karacsony, 4.

Into the last round and one more twist in store. Istvan crowned his fine performance by defeating the sole leader, John Cawdery, to leave these two tied on 5/6. The pairing on Board 2, Ashley v John H could have made it a three-way tie, but these two could only share the point.

Leaders after the last round, R6: =1 John Cawdery, Istvan Karacsony, 5/6; =3 Ashley Freeman, John Hodgson, 4½; =5 Terry Whitton, Jay Sharman, Zain Qureshi, 4. 24 entries.

In the event of a tie, the Blitz Champion is decided by tie-break. The first tie-break is Sum of Progressive Scores and on this, the Blitz Champion is John Cawdery (SoPS = 20, while Istvan’s SoPS is 18). Full scores are in the R6 Cross Table, linked below.

Very well played by both winners of the tournament. Congratulations to John Cawdery in adding Blitz Champion to his mounting accolades (Club Champion, Lightning Champion, Blitz Champion…) and commiserations to Istvan on losing out on the tie-break after a fine tournament. And a special mention for Zain Qureshi, finishing =5th on 4/6 with a rating performance of 1696 off a starting rating of 1111.

Link: Vega Tournament pages


Blitz Championship conditions

  • 6 Rounds;
  • G8+0 (NO increments);
  • Swiss pairing by Vega;
  • ECF Rapid ratings (though Blitz games currently not rated, but see below);
  • Tie-breaks – see below;
  • FIDE Blitz Laws – see further below.

Tie-breaks for the trophy, and for use in all pairings: in the event of two or more players finishing on the same points score: i) Sum of Progressive Scores; if two or more players are still tied, ii) Sum of Opponents’ Scores. If there is still a tie, any further tie-breaking will be announced by the Controller. The first two creteria are used by the pairing program throughout the event to sort players within the same score group when arranging the pairings for each round.

ECF rating of Blitz games Blitz games are not yet rated by the ECF, but moves are in hand to start rating blitz if there is sufficient support. Submissions are therefore invited from event organisers and accordingly we now submit blitz results and will do so for the Blitz Championship. If ECF blitz ratings are published in the future, this will not happen until well into 2022.


The FIDE Laws for Blitz games will apply

Link: Full FIDE Laws of Chess

Appendix B. Blitz

B.1 A ‘blitz’ game is one where all the moves must be completed in a fixed time of 10 minutes or less for each player; or the allotted time plus 60 times any increment is 10 minutes or less.

B.2 The penalties mentioned in Articles 7 and 9 of the Competition Rules shall be one minute instead of two minutes. [Article 7.5 – illegal move; Article 9 – the drawn game.]

B.3.1 The Competition Rules shall apply if:

B.3.1.1 one arbiter supervises one game and

B.3.1.2 each game is recorded by the arbiter or his assistant and, if possible, by electronic means.

B.3.2 The player may at any time, when it is his move, ask the arbiter or his assistant to show him the scoresheet. This may be requested a maximum of five times in a game. More requests shall be considered as a distraction of the opponent.

B.4 Otherwise, play shall be governed by the Rapid chess Laws as in Article A.2 and A.4.

B.5 The regulations of an event shall specify whether Article B.3 or Article B.4 shall apply for the entire event.

In accordance with Article B3, as we will not have one Arbiter for each board, B4 applies for the entire event, being Articles A2 and A4 of the Rapid Laws, which are quoted below.

FIDE Guidelines III (games without increment, including the ‘2 minute draw claim’ rule) will NOT apply.

Appendix A. Rapid chess

A.1 … (Not applicable)

A.2 Players do not need to record the moves, but do not lose their rights to claims normally based on a scoresheet. The player can, at any time, ask the arbiter to provide him with a scoresheet, in order to write the moves.

A.3.1 … (Not applicable)

A.3.1.1 … (Not applicable)

A.3.1.2 … (Not applicable)

A.3.2 … (Not applicable)

A.4 Otherwise the following apply:

A.4.1 From the initial position, once 10 moves have been completed by each player,

A.4.1.1 no change can be made to the clock setting, unless the schedule of the event would be adversely affected

A.4.1.2 no claim can be made regarding incorrect set-up or orientation of the chessboard. In case of incorrect king placement, castling is not allowed. In case of incorrect rook placement, castling with this rook is not allowed.

A.4.2 If the arbiter observes an action taken under Article 7.5.1, 7.5.2, 7.5.3 or 7.5.4, he shall act according to Article 7.5.5, provided the opponent has not made his next move. If the arbiter does not intervene, the opponent is entitled to claim, provided the opponent has not made his next move. If the opponent does not claim and the arbiter does not intervene, the illegal move shall stand and the game shall continue. Once the opponent has made his next move, an illegal move cannot be corrected unless this is agreed by the players without intervention of the arbiter.

A.4.3 To claim a win on time, the claimant may stop the chessclock and notify the arbiter. However, the game is drawn if the position is such that the claimant cannot checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves.

A.4.4 If the arbiter observes both kings are in check, or a pawn on the rank furthest from its starting position, he shall wait until the next move is completed. Then, if an illegal position is still on the board, he shall declare the game drawn.

A.4.5 The arbiter shall also call a flag fall, if he observes it.

A.5 The regulations of an event shall specify whether Article A.3 or Article A.4 shall apply for the entire event.

Link: Full FIDE Laws of Chess