NICS Lackadaisical
The Prize Winners
It was Sunday Lunchtime and there was roast beef & yorkshire, gammon steaks, chicken stuffed with cheese & wrapped in bacon, paremsan cod and a flavour-some mushroom risotto. The chess players and friends had to elbow wrestle with the other diners until a huge family party got moved off to their own room. Then we could relax, savour our lunch and quaff some ale; there was no rush - controller Mark Newman was still nibbling on his snack-burger.
What a start to the Lackadaisical Rapidplay!
As ever Round 1 saw the best rated 9 playing the ...erm... rest, in order. The only surprise was Drew Ferguson winning against Gareth Annesley - who evidently forget to come to the competition. Not the only whoopsie at the start of the competition - David McAlister was started off with a very low rating which meant he was mis-placed for this first round.
Round 2 had better match-ups but mostly game results followed ratings though there were a couple of surprises. Robert Lavery, UCU Junior Champion, gave Des Moreland a hard-time on board 3 forcing a draw. Drew Ferguson nearly caused an upset by besting Damien Lavery but failed to complete in time. While on board 6 Alan Burns casually took out David McAlister- perhaps David hadn't been under-rated after all.
By Round 3, pairings were better: Michael Waters won against his highest ranked challenger, Nick Pilkiewicz, Damien Lavery out-manoeuvred Des Moreland on 2 and Robert Lavery bested Richard Morrow. All 3 closely contested matches. Drew Ferguson was at it again on board 5, getting ever so close to taking out Ian Woodfield but blundering a Rook in the last minute or so.
Round 4 was a quieter affair with points reflecting ratings after the previous round. Surprise was Richard Morrow getting the better of Des Moreland on board 5. Both players are just getting back to their games after some time off, nonetheless, a fine feather in Richard's cap.
The penultimate round had quite a few close matches but the results went mostly to form. Except for Alan Burns, on form for the day, beating Richard Morrow and Drew Ferguson at it again gaining the upper-hand from David McAlister only to throw it away with a weak move followed by a horrible disaster playing move 2 in a 2 move sequence but forgetting to play move 1 first.
Going in to the final round, surprisingly Michael Waters was not in an 
unassailable position despite his clean 5 points; Calum Leitch was only a point behind but faced Nick Pilkiewicz in his final match. As it was Calum did what was required playing to his regular rating with a good win over Nick but Michael maintained his clean sheet with a win over David McAlister. The rest of the field ran out as expected.
Mark Newman finished off the afternoon presenting the days prizes:
- Michael Waters, outright winner with a clean sheet of 6 points
- Calum Leitch runner-up on five points
- Alan Burns taking Grading Prize on 3 points
The afternoon worked out really well getting in 6 fast-paced rapidplay games in about 4 hours, intense enough. The chess was definitely not lacakadaisical.
Links
- View the Final Standings and other details
- Check out the NICS Rapidplay Grand Prix too
