Last night at the club saw 16 members battling for the 2017 Time & Point Handicap. The Walsall Warrior (Rich W) emerged triumphant after an Armageddon style play-off with rapidly improving junior Amy Lovatt as they had completed 5 rounds with scores of 5/5 for Rich and 3/5 for Amy with a 2.5 handicap to take her score to 5.5. The rules stated that anyone scoring 100% would get at least a share of 1st place in the event of any handicap increasing a score above 5 pts.
The scene was set in round 5 with top seed Rich (4/4) playing unbeaten Neville Layhe (3.5/4) on board 1 and Amy Lovatt playing Dylan Sayers on board 2. Rich needed to beat Nev to secure 5/5, and the winner out of Dylan and Amy would end up with 5.5 pts with their handicaps. If Nev could hold Rich to a draw then either Amy or Dylan would be the outright winner. As their games unfolded Rich pounced on a stray queen to beat Nev and Amy picked up small gains to beat Dylan.
Final standings:
Winner: Rich Withshir (5/5) + play-off win.
Runner-up: Amy Lovatt (3/5 + 2.5pts hcap)
3rd: Dylan Sayers (2.5/5+ 2 pts hcap)