2012 Lightning Tournament

Steve Mellor retains trophy

Fourteen players parrticipated in this annual event held on 2 February. In this lightning event, players have to move on the sound of a buzzer every 10 seconds. In the opening it seems an awfully long time to think, but wait until you get to the middle game! Local rules applied: (1) check is not announced and the opponent of a player who leaves a king in check may take the king and win the game; (2) if an illegal move has been made, the player whose turn it is to move may retract the illegal move and pay own move (so that the player moving illegally in effect forfeits a move). In the preliminary stages, members played in two pools and the final between the two winners of the preliminary stages determined the winner. The joint winners of pool A were Nick Harris and Steve Mellor and Steve won the play-off. Jim Keene was the clear winner of pool B. In the absence of Andrew Farthing, who was detained in London by an overlong ECF meeting, Ray Collett acted as controller.

Leading scores in Pool A (6 rounds): Nick Harris and Steve Mellor 5; Ray Collett 4½; Rob Sutton 3½, John Hesketh 2 points. In the play-off, Steve Mellor beat Nick Harris.

Leading scores in Pool B (6 rounds): Jim Keene 5½; Phil Smith 4; Pat Greenow 3½; Rob Walkowiak and Roger Yates 3 points.

Final: Steve Mellor 1 - 0 Jim Keene