B - Dazzling

After being on the receiving end of a rather brutal score line at the hands of Kenilworth A, the B team's second match of the season saw a complete reversal of fortune as Solihull A were despatched by a very impressive 3.5-0.5. But yet again, and as I seem to write in every match report, the bare score hides the drama of the evening, as every board could well have ended differently. Such is chess at our level! So let's just celebrate a very impressive victory, without getting too hung-up about how we got there!!

David was making one of his rare appearances for the club, but showed that despite (a) now being in full time employment and (b) seemingly hardly ever playing a game of chess, he is still a rather formidable opponent by taking down Don Mason, with Black, on Board 1. David seemed to be taken by surprise in the opening, but when Don failed to play a very strong line early on, David played near perfect chess. He occupied the centre and forced Don into a dangerous, but unsound, piece sac, after which he took over for a very surprisingly quick win, against a formidable opponent who had gone through last season unbeaten in the Leamington League.

Joshua dodged an even bigger bullet on Board 3 against Julian Summerfield as he lost a pawn to a White rook on the seventh rank for - seemingly - no compensation whatsoever. But, as we've seen on countless occasions before, material deficits and dodgy positions don't worry Joshua and somehow he contrived to win back his pawn and then bamboozle Julian into losing a pawn which gave Josh a mighty passed a pawn which duly marched up the board to victory.

So 2-0 to us on our 2 Black boards, and the match victory was confirmed when Mike drew against Tony Sadler on Board 4. Mike won a pawn, but Tony generated a very dangerous kingside attack and its quite likely that all three results were still possible when a draw was agreed deep into mutual time trouble.

Meanwhile, I had won a pawn against Ray Carpenter and when I added a second as we went into a rook and bishops endgame I thought it was all over, especially as I had a massive pawn wedge on d5, e6 and f5 . However, Ray got his king to f6, and even though I was two pawns up and bishops came off, it was far from straightforward. As I proved by going wrong, panicking and giving my rook up for Ray's last pawn to give me passed a and b pawns supported by my king against his rook. But the pawns weren't far enough forward, and Ray's king was too close to the pawns for comfort. In desperate time trouble both players traded mistakes on a regular basis, but Ray made the biggest one of all, when he missed a move that would have won both my pawns and the game. Somehow I bluffed my way into queening one of the pawns, and in the resultant q v r ending Ray couldn't get a good co-ordination of his last two pieces, eventually losing on time as I was poised to deliver mate or win his rook. Not a game to be proud of, but all I can say is a win's a win!

Time for some music. And who doesn't love a bit of Blue Sky?

Natural Order Restored

After last season's shocking events when the B team took 3 match points off the A team, the world seems to have been put back on its normal axis and natural order to have been restored. The A team prevailed in the first of this season's 2 encounters last night by 3.5-0.5 - but only after a tough fight. It seemed likely to be a closer result for much of the evening, but as the positions got critical it was the A team players who packed the bigger punch.

Kenilworth B (on right, front to back - Ben, Rhys, Mike and Josh) v Kenilworth A (on left, front to back - Andy, Andrew, Keatan and Jude)

Andrew was the first to bring in the full point, beating Rhys after a chaotic game in which I had great difficulty counting up the pieces for each side. At one point I thought Andrew was two pawns down for nothing. Then I saw he had two rooks to Rhys's one and assumed he had an exchange by way of compensation. Then afterwards I discovered that Andrew had actually been a whole rook up! Good job I wasn't playing. The game finished in a flurry of tactics which ended up with Rhys's queen falling off.

History was made in the second game to finish when the first FM ever to play a match for Kenilworth notched up the full point for the A team. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think KCC's first ever FM, Adam Collinson, got the title after leaving the area.) Yes, Jude won the battle of the J-men against Joshua after a very smooth and convincing game, where he ended up annexing a large number of Josh's pawns. Playing Black against Jude is not an easy task these days!

I was then on hand to witness the exciting climax of the Bd 4 encounter between Ben and the seldom-sighted Andy B. Andy had seemed to be better out of the opening, and Ben's position looked a bit passive, but he had somehow whipped up a very dangerous looking attack against Andy's king on a8, with rooks on a3 and b1 (both semi-open files), a queen on b3 and a bishop on f2. Despite being short of time (of course) he then uncorked the very aesthetically pleasing move Qb6 (Black had pawns on a7 and b7) threatening mate by Rxa7+.  (He may also have been threatening Q x N on c6, when bxc6 could have been met by Rxa7 mate, but I can't remember if Black was defending laterally along his own second rank with a rook. Well, there was a lot going on!) A lesser man might have fallen off his chair (or started to run for the hills with his king (Kb8), but Andy had anticipated Ben's Frank Marshall-esque move and uncorked a splendid combo involving QxR on b1 and after kxb1 (Qxb1 Re1 would also have won back the queen) then checks on the first and second ranks with the two black rooks forcing the White king to b3, when Rb1 check won back the White queen on b6 and left Andy with a won Rook and minor piece ending. A very exciting conclusion.

Which just left the possibly even more exciting Board 2 game between Mike and Keatan in play. It looked to me like Mike was better/winning, but the position  was ridiculously tactical, with unprotected pieces flying around the board in all directions. Keatan's king seemed to be in the bigger danger, but Mike's was not entirely safe either. The complexity was making my brain hurt so I left the room, and the players did the same shortly after when neither of them could stand the tension any longer and a draw had been agreed. Though Mike tells me that he had a winning position at the end, but with no time to find the only winning move in a still ridiculously complex position. Full-on, no holds barred chess!

So a mirror image of the score-line from the corresponding fixture last September, and one that sits rather more easily with the natural order of things. The B team still has to play the C team, but at least the A team can now concentrate on playing other clubs!

A purely random musical selection this week. Heard the song for the first time in years at the Abbey Club last night, I like it, so that will have to be reason enough!

Disaster

 I am writing this now, such that tomorrow can truly be another day. Essentially we lost to Stratford and it was all my fault. Dave Ireland had a good win against Richard McNally on one. Dhairya who had answered a late call to play, for which we are hugely grateful, had an excellent draw on three. Paul went down on two, but it was my game against Carl Hibbard which was key.

I picked up a pawn in the opening and built up a very strong attack. As ever, I am my own worst enemy, and I got into time trouble yet again. With a huge advantage on the board, but not much left on my clock, I somehow contrived to pick up the wrong piece. I wasn't sure if Carl had even seen or not, as he was just re-entering the room, but there was no question in my mind that I had to do the sporting thing and play the piece.  Unfortunately, to my horror, all options with it left me completely lost.

Absolutely excruciating, not only costing me the game, but also costing us the match. I would say it was probably the most painful defeat I have ever had, and that's saying something. I don't really have any positives to add. Except perhaps, we've shown again that we can be competitive. Maybe sometimes, we just have to put our personal disasters down to experience and move on.  

There will doubtless be other days, but I am glad this one is done.

C the Stars - but A the Winners

An historic match - Kenilworth C (left, near to far) Ben, Rhys, Paul and Dave v Kenilworth A (right, near to far) Josh, Bruce, Keatan and Billy

In what may - or may not - have been the first ever Kenilworth A v Kenilworth C encounter, the glory was all for the C team, though the spoils - and points - went to the A team. But its Sea The Stars/C the Stars that gets the video!

The games finished in reverse board order, so that Josh and Ben were the first across the finishing line, with Ben's extra pawn in a rook ending countered by Joshua's enormous clock advantage. Black might well have been winning, but he would have to have risked losing to go for the full point and so the game instead ended in a repetition. So slight advantage to the C team with one large rating disadvantage - and one of the A team's White boards comfortably neutralised.

I think I missed much of the excitement in the game between Rhys and Bruce on Board 3, due to socialising with the chess dads (Ed and Nash) in the bar, but apparently the players took it in turn to sac an exchange. Bruce seemed to be a pawn up (I don't really trust my ability to count these days, so I may have got this wrong) but his pawn structure was pretty grotty. Eventually Rhys won back his pawn - after looking for all the world like he was about to fall into a cheapo - and again the A team clock advantage was enough to secure a draw before any of Bruce's weak pawns came under attack.

So not very convincing by the A team so far, but surely the youngbloods on the top two boards would win the day. Eventually yes, but it was by no means straightforward. Keatan seemed to have a really good opening and started building a kingside attack, but Paul B was in no mood to roll over and defended stoutly. At one point Keatan seemed to have got over-optimistic with an exchange sac, but Paul declined to take it and instead started developing his own attack against Keatan's rather exposed king. Black won a pawn (and possibly a second) but in big time trouble Paul found his queen and bishop skewered and when the piece fell off there was no way to adequately defend the back rank. Phew - thank goodness Keatan played this just in time ..............

So at least the A team weren't going to lose, and the match result came down to top board. Dave and Billy had a great set to. Of course, I missed much of the action, but by the time I started watching Dave was up an exchange for a pawn - but Billy had a big mass of centre pawns which was blotting out Dave's bishop on b2. However, White's rook was very active and his queen was also in a very threatening position - but the centre pawns were rolling. It was very tense and there was little time left for either player. Somehow Billy got the exchange back, but Dave then sacked his bishop for Black's three centre pawns, so we ended up with queen h, g and f pawns for Dave and queen, knight and h pawn for Billy. Dave's h3 pawn fell off, but the White queen started checking. And checking. And checking. There may well have been a repetition, but no-one was keeping score. It looked like Billy was making no progress, but he now used the time he had accumulated to find a fantastic plan which ended up with his knight jumping into f3 (check) and supporting it with a king on g4. The engine says it was still drawn but under severe clock pressure Dave couldn't find the only move to save the game, and Billy jumped in on the back rank - crucially with check - to deliver mate. An epic encounter and one that reflected great credit on both players for enormous fighting spirit and imaginative play.

So 3-1 to the A team, but by no means a completely convincing performance. 

Our song celebrates the adventures of Billy's knight, venturing far into enemy territory and - though pinned, seemingly for all eternity - providing the vital support for the Black queen to deliver mate on g1. It was indeed "a long way from home", but crucially it lived to tell the tale! (And yes, I know this song has featured here once before, but I can't think of anything else. It's not easy coming up with something new every post!)

Javi Es Campeon de KCC, 2025

I knew it; I just knew it. Despite going into the third and final leg of the inaugural KCC Speed Chess Championship with a commanding lead, the tournament format (best 2 scores to count) meant that unless I got at least 6.5/7, Javi would overtake me if he reached this score. I thought that meant I would have to at least draw with him in our individual encounter to stand any chance, and I wasn't particularly hopeful. But I needn't have worried, as I played so dreadfully in Leg 3 that I never even got to play him! My hopes instead were - short of a major surprise result, all riding on Billy, a late entry and making his only appearance in the Championships, to take down the Man from La Mancha and secure the life changing first prize of £25 (twice what I won at the British Seniors Championship!) for me. Unfortunately for me, the Billy-Javi game ended in a draw, and with both winning every other game they tied for first place on the night.

There were some excellent performances on the night, with especially notable results for Algis and Patrick (who both wiped the floor with me!)  However, this wasn't enough to take them past Ben in the race for the U-1750 rating prize (another £25), even though he was unable to improve on his score from the first two legs. Though he did manage to draw with me again, to take his score to 2/3 as we played in every leg - all I needed was a half point more from either of the first two games and I'd have been the champ, so as well as winning his section, he also turned out to be the Kingmaker!

So the final Club Speed Championship Leaderboard/Points were:-

1 Javi 12.5
2 Mark 12.3 
3 Keatan 10.1
4 Mike 8.9
5 Ben 8.7 (and the U1750 Rating Prize)
6 Dave 8.2
7 Algis 8.0 (2nd U1750)
8 Dylan 7.0 (3rd U1750)

So many congratulations to Javi and Ben for their successes, and commiserations to those who were just pipped at the post - ie me!!

Do you think that was Spanish enough to commemorate Javi's victory??

In total, we had 18 participants who played in at least 1 of the three events - well over half the club's total membership - so this must be judged a major success and a triumph for Ben, who both created and organised the event - and then went and won his section as well! (Not forgetting the massive contribution of Gregory in his Chief Arbiter and Swiss-Manager supremo roles.) In fact it was such a success, we may well do something similar at Christmas, though that may have to be a one-off due to time constraints. Maybe we could get all our titled players to turn out for that?!

Clearly the most appropriate video to accompany this report would have been Yvonne Fair singing "It Should Have Been Me", but I've used that before (when I was also pipped at the post in something else!), so I won't bother trying to be relevant. Instead, I'll just delve into YouTube and pull out a random musical tour de force. Wonder what it will be?

What a suprise - Jackson Browne! Who could ever have guessed? And bonus appearances by Bonnie Raitt on vocals, Bruce Hornsby on piano and - of course - the wonderful David Lindley on steel guitar. Just magical. Wish I'd been there.

British Championships 2025

Well, my plan to file some regular reports from the front line in Liverpool clearly didn't work too well. what with sight-seeing, playing and then eating and drinking there simply wasn't enough time left for me to slave over a hot lap-top and keep you stay-at-homes up to date with how our brave lads were getting on. But - better late than never - I can at least provide a round up of how the KCC battalion ultimately fared.

Star billing has to go to our two junior sensations, Jude and Billy, who both performed admirably in the Championship event, both eventually finishing on 4.5/9 after a last round draw between themselves. Not the pairing either would have wanted to finish on, but at least no-one went home a loser! Jude's high point was obviously the win over IM Brandon Clarke which took him above 2300 and qualified him for the FM title, while Billy had an excellent event too, and gained 62 rating points. And it could have been even more as he had both IM Andrew Ledger and GM Nigel Davies on the edge of defeat. Crucially, he was unbeaten in the last three rounds when borrowing a pen from me! Between them, Jude and Billy only played 3 non-titled players across 18 games, which illustrates what a strong event this was. Excellent results and performances at such a young age.

Bruce was in the running for a high placing in the 50+ event, but a last round loss - when a win would have placed him clear third - sent him down the table to 9th=, but with a hefty rating gain. Ben made his debut in Seniors' chess in this event and finished 26th= from a starting rank of 41 and also gained rating points, as he did with his excellent 4th= finish in the U1900 morning tournament. (Which netted him £20, to boot!) Ed and I flew the flag for KCC in the 65+ event where, from 81 starters I finished 4th= (winning £12.50 - its big money at the British Champs!) and Ed was 44th= - in both cases well above our starting ranks. Finally, as far as proper chess is concerned, Keatan found it hard going in the Major Open but still scored above 50% in his unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 2026 British Championships. Which, if you haven't already heard, will be held at Warwick University - so no excuses for not playing next year! I guess I should also mention the Blitz and Rapid events, but only because Joshua managed to finish 3rd= in the U-2000 rapidplay event and take home £18.50, which must have more than paid for his day return from Manchester!

And I can't let the event pass by without mentioning that the recent slayer of KCC at our 50th anniversary simultaneous display, GM Mickey Adams, collected a 9th British Championship title to go with his recent English Championship success. What a player - not bad for a 53 year old! And he fully deserved to see his image up in lights on an enormous billboard opposite the playing hall. Don't think I've seen chess get such large scale promotion before.

Disappointing that none of KCC's finest managed to make it onto the advert along with Gawain, Mickey and Nikita!

Liverpool proved to be a very interesting host city - plenty to see and do and no shortage of accommodation, food and beverage options. Especially the last named! And what a venue we played in - Warwick University will do well to find anywhere on campus as impressive as this!

The grade 1 listed St George's Hall

Which was equally impressive inside!

Slightly larger than the Abbey Club!

Although it has to be said that the tradesmen's entrance the chess players had to use was slightly less imposing.

The way in looked like the entry to some public toilets. And not very nice ones at that!

Liverpool, famously, has two cathedrals which stare at each other from either end of the marvellously appropriate Hope Street.

The truly monumental Anglican Cathedral, seen from the steps of the Catholic Cathedral, half a mile away. It is the longest and fifth largest cathedral in the world. But definitely not the most beautiful.

The RC Cathedral, designed by Coventry kid Sir Frederick Gibberd - also
famous as the architect of Didcot Power Station and Harlow New Town!

When I wasn't busy preparing for my battles on the chessboard (ie most of the time) I took advantage of the free mornings to visit some landmark sites associated with several of Liverpool's most famous sons and daughters.

Who lived in a house like this? John Lennon!

So no prizes for guessing this was the childhood home of Paul McCartney

Surprise, surprise! It's Cilla again.

And another surprise - who knew that the 100 Another Place statues by Antony Gormley on Crosby beach were actually modelled on the most famous of all Liverpool icons - the Diddymen?!

To avoid any confusion, please note that I am on the left.

After this bumper pictorial city tour (aren't you relieved there was no photography allowed in the Beatles's former homes?!) you'd think I'd have no energy left for a musical contribution as well. But you'd be wrong. How could I miss the opportunity to present one of Liverpool's most celebrated musical acts singing about an ancestor of a KCC legend? Answer - I couldn't!

Jude is an FM!

Fantastic news from the British Championships at Liverpool, where yesterday Jude had a tremendous win over the very strong IM Brandon Clarke (for the second time in a month, both with Black), finishing with a brilliant rook sac. You can play through the game here. After this win, Jude's live ELO rating has gone over 2300, which means he has qualified to become a Fide Master. This makes him only the second KCC player ever to become an FM, after Adam Collinson, though I'm pretty sure Adam didn't reach this milestone at the age of just 15!! Many congratulations from everyone at the club, Jude. Your success is absolutely brilliant.

It was very nearly an even more special day, as Billy was on the verge of taking down another IM, Andrew Ledger, but somehow the more experienced player saved a desperate looking rook ending and prevented an IM-bashing double by KCC juniors. So after 4 rounds of the Championships, Jude has a fantastic 3 pts with Billy on a more than respectable 2 pts. Today its another very tough pairing for Jude, against Ukrainian IM Svyatoslav Bazakutsa, while Billy plays FM Stephen Dishman. Good luck to them both, and indeed to all KCC participants. Which includes myself, of course!

More news as and when I can find the time/energy!

The Storm Before the Even Bigger Storm

It was the second instalment of the inaugural Kenilworth Speed Chess Championships last night, and ten intrepid players assembled to contest a five round rapid chess Swiss with a time limit of 10'+5".

Fresh from my surprise joint first place in leg 1, I found myself as clear top seed this time around, mainly thanks to everyone else having either ridiculously low rapid ratings (yes Keatan, that means you!) or no rapid rating at all. In the absence of our Swiss Manager supremo, Gregory, tournament organiser Ben had to revert to the tried and trusted analogue method of pen, scraps of paper and trial and error to make the pairings, but despite the distractions of also playing in the event, he coped admirably with the pressure and kept the show on the road.

Round 1

Mark 1 – 0 Bernard 
Ben 0.5 – 0.5 Mike 
Dave 1 v 0 Rhys
Keatan 1 v 0 Algis
Patrick 0 v 1 Paul B

Round 2

Paul B 0 – 1 Mark
Mike 1 – 0 Patrick
Keatan 1 – 0 Dave
Bernard 1 – 0 Ben
Rhys 1 – 0 Algis

Round 3

Mark 1 v 0 Keatan
Dave 0 v 1 Mike
Paul B 0.5 – 0.5 Bernard
Ben 1 – 0 Rhys
Algis 1 – 0 Patrick

Round 4

Mike 0 v 1 Mark
Dave 1 – 0 Algis
Bernard 0 – 1 Keatan
Ben 1 – 0 Paul B
Patrick 0 – 1 Rhys

Round 5

Mark 0.5 – 0.5 Ben
Mike 1 – 0 Rhys
Patrick 0 – 1 Dave
Paul B 0 -1 Keatan
Algis 0 – 1 Bernard

At the end of the evening I had just about managed to justify my number 1 seeding, finishing on 4.5/5, ahead of Keatan the rating bandit on 4. The full standings were:-

1 Mark 4.5 
2 Keatan 4
3 Mike 3.5
4= Ben and Dave 3
6 Bernard 2.5
7 Rhys 2
8 Paul B 1.5
9 Algis 1
10 Patrick 0

The tournament was very hard fought, with the 5 rounds not concluding until around 10.30, and many games lasting close to 30 minutes. I almost lost count of the number of drawn out queen endings I had to play!

For the second successive event, I got to the final round with a 100% score (after a very lucky Rd 4 win over Mike) but - just like last time - I found Ben a very difficult opponent. At least this time I didn't lose, which was just as well, as Keatan won his last round encounter against Paul and would have tied if Ben had done the double over me. I don't know what it is about Ben's play, but he's got me totally psyched out now!

The even bigger storm referenced in the title of this article could be either Leg 3 of the KCC Speed Championship (which will be another Blitz event on August 28th) or the imminent British Championships which are about to start in Liverpool. KCC's 2 junior CMs are both in action in the Championship proper (but with starting ranks of 43 (Jude) and 72 (Billy) you can tell this is a monstrously strong event. Keatan is flying the KCC flag in the Major Open, where he is seeded 17th (of 137!) aiming for one of the 10 qualifying places available for the 2026 British Championship. Ben makes his debut in the 50+ Championships (seeded 41) where he is joined by Bruce (start rank 24). Of course, Ben is also playing in a morning tournament as well, and a couple of Blitz evenings. Good luck to him I say, but count me out of such an intensive schedule - I've got sight-seeing, eating, drinking and sleeping to take care of! Keatan, Bruce and - surprise, surprise - Joshua will also be blitzing two of their evenings away. Madness, sheer madness!

Well, why not? It is Liverpool we're going to!

Ed (seeded 60) and myself (21) are the two KCC representatives in the 65+ event. The chances of me repeating my shock joint first in 2019 are consequently very low.

So we haven't quite been able to match the even larger turnout we had in Torquay back in 2019, but its still a respectable showing. Good luck to all and who knows, there may even be a report or two of proceedings posted here.

Now, we've had this song before (no idea if it was this same video), but it would be careless of me not to continue the theme. So here goes.

 

You Wait Ages for a 2700 GM and Then 3 of Them Come Along at Once

The English Championships are under way at the Holiday Inn and Kenilworth has been graced by the presence of not one, not two, but three GMs rated over 2700 ECF. This must be the strongest collection of chess players Kenilworth has ever seen!

Fresh from his slaughter of the innocents at the recent KCC 50th Anniversary Simultaneous Display, Mickey Adams has quickly returned to Kenilworth as the number 2 seed, with an ECF rating of 2726, and following a Round 4 win over number 3 seed Gawain Jones (rated a mere 2723!) has assumed sole leadership as I write with a 100% score. Trailing half a point behind is number one seed, and 2021 Russian Champion, Nikita Vitiugov (2746).  A potentially decisive round 5 encounter between the top two seeds is scheduled for Sunday morning.

Round 1 underway, with Nikita Vitiugov White on Board 1, Mickey Adams Black on Board 2, and Gawain Maroroa Jones on Board 3 nearest the camera (left)

Three of Kenilworth's finest are also in action, with Jude currently leading the way on an undefeated 3/4 after some excellent games. He faces IM Brandon Clarke in Round 5. Keatan and Billy are both on 1.5 pts at the moment, though Keatan will be the happier of the two given his very strong opposition so far. Billy has suffered two White losses which have derailed his progress, but lets hope for a strong finish in the last 3 rounds. We can in any case be massively proud that three of our juniors are mixing it in this ferociously strong tournament. Keep going guys!

Its Hot and Cold as Club Quickplay Championship Begins

It was 29 degrees centigrade in Kenilworth yesterday, as the first of three legs of the new Kenilworth Quickplay Championship got underway. Inside the Holiday Inn, though, it was decidedly parky, as the air conditioning was seemingly turned up to 11 and frostbite, rather than heatstroke, was the more likely affliction for the 12 players who contested a 7 round (slow) Blitz (5" + 2'). There should have been 14 players but Rhys (unwell) and Joshua (who knows!?) were late withdrawals.  But all twelve starters would surely agree with Little Feat that "it was freezing cold in that hotel!" Great version here, with Bonnie Raitt on guest vocals.

The tournament was only able to function smoothly thanks to Gregory, our 14 year old National Arbiter, who was able to set things up on Swiss Manager and handle the pairings, results and grading functions with an ease which made both Ben and I very embarrassed after our own pathetic attempts to master the software!

Javi started off as hot favourite, but something went very wrong in Round 2 when he contrived to lose on time against me, in a probably winning endgame - though as he pointed out to me afterwards, I had missed the one move win of a piece earlier! This put me, Mike and Dave in the early lead but somehow I then just kept on winning, getting myself to 6/6. Before the last round, Javi had recovered to lie in second place on 5 pts, with Dhairya and Ben back in a tie for third on 3.5.

The last round pairing had me as Black against Ben, and all I needed for victory was a draw, but as this is a three leg event, with the best 2 results on game points counting, I decided that it was more important to go for broke rather than try and wimp out with a draw. (Which Ben may not have accepted, of course!) You can all guess what happened next. Ben played a monster game and took several of my pawns before annexing a piece and then delivering mate. Brutal!

Of course, Javi then won his Round 7 encounter with Dhairya to catch me on 6 points. Ben's demolition job on me meant he finished in clear third place on 4.5. But this is just the first of three events, so there's plenty of twists that might happen yet - and the tournament winner might even not have played a single game yet! Who knows who might turn up for events 2 (Rapid) and 3 (another Blitz)? BTW you can play one of these events without being a member of the ECF, but you won't be allowed to play in a second without at least Bronze membership.

So the future dates for your diary are July 31st for leg 2 and August 28th for the potentially decisive leg 3. By the way, there will be a prize of £25 to the overall winner, and £25 to the best placed player under ...... a rating yet to be decided by Ben. Though on the evidence of yesterday's field, the rating cap will possibly be in the vicinity of 1700. Anyway, no need to panic yet as Ben will be in touch with everyone to take entries before each of the two remaining legs.  In the meantime I will enjoy my position as joint leader while it lasts - which will be until July 31st!