Rating superiority told in the end as Steve Ledger weaved his way to 6.5/7 and the £20 prize in Bedford Chess Club’s blitz tournament on 2nd July – 5 minutes per player for the whole game + 3 seconds increment per move. The 23 players responded well to the call for a 7.30 prompt start and the usual Swiss system pairings of top half v bottom half of the field produced some first round shocks: Andy Avern-Love 1-0 James Gardner, birthday boy Wolf Sharp 1-0 Callum Shields, Francesco Graf 1-0 Alex Potts, Peter Gill 0-1 Romeo Barbarino.
Of the 77 games only two were draws, both in Round 4 when Alex Taylor drew with James Gardner and Jack Hale took the only half point off Steve Ledger. The leading last round pairings were: Ledger (5.5) v Gardner (4.5); Ramsey Dairi (5) v Shiva Darmendra (4); Abbie Mangarayi (4) v Hale (4.5). Four players were thus in contention for at least a share of first place and Ramsey Dairi, by beating Shiva, was unlucky not to win with 6 points when James Gardner blew a winning position against Steve Ledger.
Final leading scores: Ledger 6.5 (£20), R Dairi 6 (£10), Hale 5.5.
The ratings prize (Under-1617/bottom half of the field) was shared on 4 points by Richard McMorran, Andy Avern-Love and Wolf Sharp (£5 each).
Full results available from paul.habershon@ntlworld.com
Paul Habershon