Our first Club Night after the November national lockdown features the inaugural “2×64 Championship” which has a Major and Minor Section and runs over 8th and 15th December. Tournament Secretary, Mark Murrell explains the name is: “A nod to two boards and new Tier 2”.
Mark Murrell reports:
Fourteen players entered the 2×64 Rapid Championships, which was divided into three sections: Open Major, U1700 Inter and U1450 Minor with three rounds on each of 8 and 15 December. The new December 1 monthly OTB ECF Rapid ratings were used with section limits determined to best suit respective playing strengths and to facilitate the Tier 2 requirement of no mixing.
All sections were played under a Bronstein delay time control of all moves in 20 minutes with a delayed increment of up to 10 seconds; better suited in the opinion of the Controller to two boarded chess than a conventional set increment. Clock times never increase as a result.
At the half way stage with three rounds complete:
U1450 Minor – Jestico (3) leads Mara (2);
U1700 Inter – Karacsony and Smith jointly lead on (2);
In next week’s final session the Minor and Inter players play each other again but with colours reversed.
Tie breaks: Head to Head and then most wins.
In the Open Major three rounds of a 5-Round all-play-all qualifier have been played so far.
Staniland (3) leads Collyer (2½).
Paul Barclay took a half point bye in Rounds 1 and 4 to be able to play in the tournament. His displayed score in the Vega tournament pages should be increased by 1 point accordingly. Controller Mark Murrell substitutes for Paul in Rounds 1 and 4 to complete a Barrell combo.
In next week’s session two new opponents for each of the players in the Major to complete the 5-Round qualifier competition for the Round 6 Finals, with the top two due to meet in Round 4.
The top two finishers in the Major play-off for the Championship with colours reversed from the all-play-all. Third and Fourth placed finishers similarly play-off for third place with the Fifth and Sixth placed playing-off for fifth.
The Final round pairings will not form part of the Vega tournament pages but can be found in due course on the club’s ECF LMS site at:
https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/64850
Link to Pairings and Results: 2×64 Major | 2×64 Inter| 2×64 Minor