It would be highly remiss of me not to report on the action at the two tournaments held in Kenilworth last weekend. Especially as I get to write (comparatively) nice things about myself in the process.
Saturday saw the Midlands qualifier for the 2022 UK Blitz Championships at The Holiday Inn, with 2 places up for grabs for the finals of both the Open and Women's competitions. This was a 15 round marathon (3 mins + 2 secs), with a field of 51 players, and no less than 6 current or past KCC members amongst the participants - plus two part time spectators in Paul and Bernard R. Top seed was the King of Kenilworth, GM Mark Hebden, and while he did indeed qualify, it was only in second place, a full point behind IM Jonah Willow. Blitz really is a young person's game.
The Kenilworth contingent, with placings and points, was:-
Joshua - 20th 8
Billy - 24th 7.5
David Phillips (nice to see you again!) - 25th 7.5
Ben - 30th 7.5
Patrick - 45th 6 (in his first ever tournament - an excellent effort!)
Ben, Billy, Joshua and I all had the privilege of losing to the Grand Master. A few intra-KCC battles occurred, but we have no need to wash our dirty linen in public, so if you want to see the gory details (eg Billy 1 Joshua 0) you can check the full tournament results here. But I will just mention that Paul's long time student, Elis Dicen (who visited the Gauntlet on several occasion in pre-pandemic times) topped the Women's qualifiers (8 points) ahead of WGM Toma. Good luck to Elis in the finals.
On Sunday, the focus was on Kenilworth School in Leyes Lane, which was the site of the 2022 Warwickshire Quickplay Championships. This was 7 rounds at 15 mins + 10 secs, played over 4 sections. Three KCC members (myself, Joshua and Ben) were too stupid to take a rest after their exertions the previous day, and were joined in the action by Ed. Sunday's spectators included Paul and Phil.
GM Hebden was again top seed, and this time did come out on top, but only just - having been sunk by John Pitcher in Round 5. Fortunately for the King of Kenilworth, though, I got a surprising last round draw against John, which gave the GM a half point margin at the top (6/7). Josh and I had the pleasure of losing to the Grand Master for the second day running, with my effort absolutely woeful. However, I did manage a couple of good games to finish 4th= with 4 points, while Josh was close behind (6th= on 3.5 points). Ben and Ed were in the Major section, where Ed finished 4th= with 4 points, and Ben 10th= on 3.5. (Yes 50% on each day for Ben - or Mr Average as we must now call him!) Full results for all sections can be found here.
Much to surprise, as I was checking what was happening today in the final UK Blitz regional qualifier, I see that we have 2 KCC members in action in the South West event at Swindon. After 6 rounds, Jude sits in a remarkable 2nd= place with 5 points. His Blitz rating of 1452 may slightly underestimate his true playing strength! Ben is also playing (a glutton for punishment!) and rather surprisingly does not quite have 50% at the moment (2.5/6) but I'm sure that will be rectified by the end of the event! Top seeds are GM Arkell and IM Harvey, but the most interesting participant must be IM James T. Sherwin at the grand old age of 88. This is a man who once beat Bobby Fischer and finished third in the US Championships. (And, less famously, lost to me in an online Blitz game a year or so ago!) It would be quite something if Jude or Ben got to play such a legend in person.
Having used up Ballroom Blitz in a recent report, I couldn't think of another relevant song to finish with, so just opted for an old pop classic. And why not? Because its my report and I'll choose what I want to!
Oh yes - memo to self. 22 games in two days is about 20 too many!
Late update from Swindon - Jude finished in 12th place with 8.5 pts - not bad from a start rank of 46th! And he drew with GM Keith Arkell!! Ben let the side down by scoring 7 pts, thus missing the 50% level by half a point and consequently jeopardising his new status as Mr Average. Regrettably, neither of them got paired against James Sherwin.
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