Last night was another fantastic club night as we held Rounds 3 and 4 of our Annual Rapidplay competition. This year due to the growth of the club we decided to hold two separate sections – one as Open Rated and one for players rated Under 1600. There are 21 members in the Open section and 29 in the U1600.
The competition is being held later in the season than previous years due to the NSDCA League/Cup fixtures, with dates fixed as 21st May for the two opening rounds and the final rounds (5 & 6) taking place next Tuesday (18th June).
Several players have been allowed to take byes during the opening two nights, receiving a half-point bye for any round missed which allows youngsters to play the first round of the night, so as not to interfere with school programs and exams. However there are no byes available for Rounds 5 & 6.
Firstly looking at the Open section we have a pile up of 6 players on 3pts after 4 rounds, with two more just a half point behind. There have been plenty of surprise results as the No1 seed has dropped two points already. The leading pile up comprises Kamil, Cyrus, Carmel, Martin B, Karl and surprise contender Martin Frisher. Just behind these are Andy R and Ebube who has excelled having already played two of the joint leaders. Our promising youngster (not), Doug Barnett was delighted to take the scalp of tournament controller David Hulme, with his first ever win against David after nearly 10 years at the club !
Turning attention to the U1600 section, we have (a real youngster) 12 year old Jamie Roberts leading the way with 3.5 pts, ahead of a chasing pack on 3pts which includes several of the expected trophy chasers – Nigel, Adam, James M and newcomer George Bowkett, and surprise package Mario. With another five players on 2.5 pts it promises to be a tense and tight fight next week, although George is out of the contest due to being back at Cardiff Uni.
In the likelihood of tie-breaks being required to determine the two section winners the controller has decided these will be as follows. If the TB does not produce a winner then trophies will be awarded to all joint winners
- Direct Encounter – if just two players involved then their result dictates. And if more than two players involved, it is necessary that all have played each other and the highest scorer from these games is the winner. Otherwise this TB cannot be used.
- Number of wins – this means 4 wins is better than 3 wins and 2 draws etc
- Sum of the opponents scores if all played same number of games
- Average of all opponents scores if played different number of games.
Thanks to Steve who kindly acted as the Results marker.
Below is a photo from the night showing 44 players in action.
