October Blitz Results

Our Grand Reopening October Blitz, held on October 10th, had more entries than any blitz for many months, including a fair number of completely new players, which bodes very well for the coming season. It also had a surprisingly exciting finish: surprising, because after five of the seven rounds, Diego Rodriguez had built up a lead of 1½ points by scoring five straight wins, and had just defeated his main rival, top seed Johannes Hertel, so victory seemed in the bag.  However, Diego then seemed to run out of steam, losing both his remaining games, whilst many-times previous winner Jason Rawlinson came through with a late spurt, beating Diego in round 6 and then Johannes in the final round.  Thus the winner, with 5½ points was Jason Rawlinson, and second equal on 5 points were Diego Rodriguez, Ger Abberton (who beat Diego in the last round, having previously drawn with Jason to seemingly put him out of contention) and Brian Gallagher.  Brian also finished with a flourish, winning his last four games, and, as an unrated player in his first Galway Blitz, was deservedly awarded the prestigious rating prize.