July Blitz Results

July’s blitz, like June’s, had fewer entries than normal – quite possibly because the spell of unusually dry and warm weather did not break until the day after the one we had picked for our tournament, which was a shame.  Although few in number, the participants were an interesting mix of regulars, newcomers, and returnees, unlike in June, which had consisted mainly of regulars.  At the final reckoning, the tournament was won by a multiple previous winner, Jason Rawlinson, who beat everybody to record seven straight wins.  Second equal were tournament organizer Pete Morriss and David Cunningham on 5½ points (drawing with each other, both losing to Jason, and beating the rest).  David Cunningham also won  the rating prize, by a very long way, as the other eligible players all came equal on 1 point.  This was David’s first Galway blitz, though last month he won a rating prize and the under-12 prize in the Galway Rapidplay (scroll down for a Report, and also a picture of David receiving one of his prizes from – perhaps fittingly – Pete Morriss) and a few weeks prior to that he had come first in the Irish under-10 championship. So David is on a roll, and deservedly so judging by the standard of play he showed in this blitz tournament, in which he beat several much higher-rated and more experienced opponents.