Tony Locke Rapidplay 2022

The club's internal rapidplay championship (Tony Locke Rapidplay) was held on Wednesday 17th August. The competition was won by Nathan Barnes with a score of 5/5 (his fourth consecutive win). Mae, Michael and Rezin Catabay tied for second with 3.5/5. Twelve players took part.

Note: some of the ratings shown in the crosstable are estimated ratings or are provisional ratings based on very few games so are not always accurate.

In round 1, the games went with rating with the exception of Rezin Catabay who won following his opponent's queen blunder. Rezin also won in round 2 to join Michael Catabay and Nathan Barnes on 2/2. The latter had a lucky escape against Mae Catabay who would have won if there had been a longer time control. Round 3 saw Rezin have a slight edge most of the time in his game against Nathan until the endgame was reached when things turned around. Felix was the unlucky player to get the upfloat to play against Michael. David York won his first rated game, playing against Ed Southgate (also in his first tournament). Max Conley and Mae Catabay's game was level throughout, though it took a while for the draw to play out. Rob Petrovai and James Martin won their games to move to 2/3.

Round 4 saw the two player's on a 100% score play each other. Following a pawn sacrifice, Michael chose the wrong way to try to hold onto the material advantage and his king got stuck in the centre. A position from the game is below, White to play and win (answer in the comments).

Wins for Rezin and James saw them join Michael on 3/4, one point behind Nathan and with a chance to finish the competition in a tie for the lead. Mae won her second match of the evening; Andrew English won his first game of the evening.

Round 5 saw a father-son match-up, the result was a draw so Rezin and Michael finished on 3.5/5. Mae won her game against Felix to match her brother and father's final score. Strong opening play saw Nathan struggle in his game against James, losing a pawn for no real compensation. Active rook play and a removal of the guard tactic saw the game turn and meant Nathan was able to maintain his 100% record.