November Blitz Results

Galway Chess Club’s November blitz tournament was held on Thursday 22nd. The tournament was a near-reprise of September’s, in that before the half-way stage it had become a two-way contest between Zalan Nemeth and Brendan Buckley. But whilst in September Zalan had lost in the first round (to James Blackwell) before powering through the field to finish first equal on 6 points, this time Zalan went one better (or a half better) by drawing in the first round (against Ger Abberton). Brendan, on the other hand, scored win after win until the showdown with Zalan occurred in round 4, in which Zalan was again victorious. The two players then opened up an increasing gap between them and the rest of the field by winning all their remaining games, so that at the end the winner was Zalan Nemeth on 6½ points and second Brendan Buckley on 6. The grading prize saw three eligible contestants each finish on 3 points: Andrew Barber, Andrew Finnerty and Ger Abberton; the tournament organizer considered that if it was necessary to resolve this tie, the nod should go to Ger, in recognition of his success in being the only player in the whole field to avoid defeat against Zalan, but as there was no need to split the tie, the prize should be shared between all three.