FIDE RATED BLITZ ON 21 NOVEMBER

The whole of the County Cup team turned out last night for the 7 round blitz, along with 6 other members, making a total of 12. Top positions were: 6½/7 Ian Snape 5½ John Duggan and Jon Griffiths 4 Andrew Ponting 3½ Graeme Plato. However, the stand out performance of the night was undoubtedly that of Jon Griffiths. Had he held a drawn R + P ending in the first round against me, he would have tied for first. As it was, he beat John Duggan, Richard Selway, Nick Briggs and Andrew Ponting.

FIDE RATED BLITZ ON 21 NOVEMBER

A reminder that the club is holding its first FIDE Rated Blitz tournament this Thursday, 21 November and the details are: (a) Start 7.30pm; estimated finish 10.25pm. (b) Rounds - 7. (c) Time control - 8 minutes + 2 sec a move (digital) or 10 minutes flat (manual) per player. (d) Entry fee £5 (£10 if not a member). If you have not yet confirmed entry, please turn up by 7.20pm at the latest.

Another Excellent Performance at Golders Green

Following on from Douglas's result at the Golders Green Rapid a few weeks back, this time it's Reenen Du Toit who's making the news with second equal in the U170 section of this popular quickplay. Details here.

Interviewed for this esteemed blog - OK, that's not true, it was an email to Douglas - Reenen said:

Thanks. I would have won the major section was it not for the last game which I lost.  Nevertheless it was an inspirational tournament showing that I can get close to the no 1 spot.

Ambition!

For what it's worth, your correspondent played in the excellent Torbay Major this weekend, and thrilled the crowds with four draws and a loss.  Alan Fraser was there too, and he was on 2/4 (no draws, at least) at the beginning of the last round.  The winner of the Major - whose name I sadly cannot recall, despite supping beers with him on Sunday night - is an ex-Beckenham player from the 1970s.  He couldn't remember anyone from those days apart from Alan Sands, which goes to show the impact our legendary member must have been making, even then.

Andy Heard