The final two rounds of this years Summer Rapid was played on Wednesday evening.
In the A Grade there was no suprises as the top 2 seeds, who had already played each other previously and drawn, won both their round leaving them 1st and 2nd respectively. Here are the final standings in the A Grade –
Katrine McCarthy 5.5
John Worn 5.0
Barry Hooton 4.0
Paul Norris 3.0
John McRae 3.0
Meliton Gesmundo 2.5
Paul Postma 2.0
The B Grade showed some of the weaknesses inherent in the fact that we have to play as one swiss tournament (i.e. A and B grades all together) because of low numbers.
Graeme Coleman and Stefan Brzozowski were joint leaders going into the final two rounds however Graeme lost against an A grader and then received a 1 point bye. Stefan on the other hand defeated an A grader and then lost to the top sead (Katrine). As well as this Solomon Lefe’e played two B grade players (winning both) and caught up. Final standings are as follows –
Stefan Brzozowski 3.0
Graeme Coleman 3.0
Solomon Lefe’e 3.0
Caleb Lefe’e 2.0
Rhoslyn Lapworth 1.0
Pauline Thomas 1.0
William Lefe’e 1.0
James Anderson 0
There is a possibility of separating the grades but there are a number of considerations –
1. Every week there are people who don’t turn up – sometimes 1 or 2 but sometimes many.
2. It is noticeable that in this tournament the A grade players were there every week but in one week there were 4 B grade players missing.
3. We could still play separate tournaments if people are willing to except a win by default. In the case of tournaments where there are only one round per night, there is a possibility of opponents playing during the week before the next round. In this case though the rule should be – The person that turns up on club night can enforce the default if they cannot or are unwilling to play outside club night.
4. The A grade would be a round robin but this creates a problem if a higher rated player turns up after the first round. This probably could be overcome by contacting the higher rated players before the tournament.
The next graded tournament is the Winter Cup starting 19 June and I think this should be considered as the B Grade invariably has this problem. If you would like to discuss please email me [email protected]
The next tournament starting 17th April is the Autumn Cup (Katrine Metge Cup). This is 5 rounds with swiss format and one single group. Time control is 1 hour + 30 seconds from move one. As usual you need to be there before 7.30 or let Paul Postma know that you wish to enter.
