November Blitz results

The November blitz, played on the 16th November, was won by Alex Drimbarean, with seven straight wins. Alex last played in one of our blitz tournaments nearly two years ago, when he also won, although then he did concede a draw or two; this time there was no stopping him, as he demonstrated (rather unfortunately) that a two-year gap is good for your chess – or at least for his: the rest of us need to practice. There was a tight fight for second place, with five players being in the running going into the last round; eventually Pete Morriss managed to come out in front of the pack, with 5 points, a long, long, way behind Alex. The grading prize went to Andrejs Kozlovs with 3½. This is Andrejs’ first grading prize, and it may well be his last, as he is likely not to be eligible for a grading prize if his ICU grading continues to increase at the rapid rate it has done over the last few months: for instance, Andrejs’ grading jumped 150 points after his fine win in Limerick last month

Next month’s blitz, our seasonal festive year-ender, is scheduled for December 14th.