Team Blitz & Lightning 2017 [2]
Wanstead hat trick : Russell White wash - nearly
Firstly, profuse apologies to readers who tried in vain to find the promised round-by-round updates. We found that there was no signal at the Ilford CC venue - no wifi-fi and we couldn't get a signal with our dongle - although we are sure we blogged live from there last year. Anyway, we couldn't get a connection to the Internet and could not, therefore, upload any data. However, all the data is there now.
Fuller reports to follow, but the salient facts are: in the morning's Team Blitz, Wanstead A (The Knightmares) completed a hat trick of Team Blitz wins, but in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Basildon were leading at the start of the last round, with 23½/32, ahead of Wanstead A 22½. However, Basildon, who had knocked Barking off top spot with a 4-0 whitewash in Round 7, now were the victims of an extraordinary result by Wanstead B, who won 3-1, allowing Wanstead A to steal the show with a 3½-½ win over Maldon. Final scores: Wanstead A, 25½/36; Basildon, 24½; Writtle, 23. 10 teams.
In the afternoon, the Lightning was also a remarkable event, but for entirely different reasons. A number of the fancied players dropped points throughout the afternoon, except for one, Russel White of Writtle, who was in fine form and reeled off 5/5, to win with a round to spare, before coasting in with a final draw, to win the Judah Kalinsky trophy with 5½/6, 1½ points ahead of Larry Marden and Kerry Chilvers, 4. 14 players.
Our thanks to Tom Barton and Ilford Chess Club for hosting the event, Syd Kalinsky and King & King for the 25th year of sponsorship and Ivor Smith for controlling.