The Cowley Christmas Blitz, held on Monday 5 December, attracted an excellent total of 62 participants, the highest number for many years.
The tournament resulted in a tie on 9 points from 10 games between Daniel Varney (Cumnor) and Cowley’s Will Burt, with Daniel taking first prize on the tie-breaking system. Third and fourth place respectively (again separated only on tie-break) were Cowley’s Rich Weston and Mike Handley. Congratulations to them and the other prizewinners!
The full list of prizewinners is as follows:
1st: Daniel Varney (Cumnor) 9/10
2nd: Will Burt (Cowley) 9
3rd: Rich Weston (Cowley) 8
4th: Michael Handley (Cowley) 8
Best Cowley player: Maria Mate 7.5
Best visitor: Dan Rowan (Banbury) 7.5
Best junior (U18): Hari Selvaraj (MCS/Blackbirds) 5
Best lady: Jasmine Burgess (Cowley)) 4.5
Best U165: Ian Bush (MCS/Blackbirds) 7.5
Best Cowley U155: Bob Waugh 7
Best visitor U155: Kelly Riley (Cowley Workers) 6.5
Best U14: Bill Read (Witney) 5
Best U145: Tamal Matilal (Cowley Workers) 5.5
Best U130: Billy McCauley (-) 5
Best ungraded: Jim Vincent (-) 5
Best U12: Jenith Wiratunga (Cowley) 4
Best U10: David Kardashyan (William Fletcher Primary Sch.)2
Best slow starter – 0/2: Domas Druzas (Didcot) 5
Best very slow starter – 0/4: Hakeem Asif (Cowley) 4
The draw for the Frank Wood Shield was also held before the final round of the Blitz.
Our thanks go to everyone who helped make the event a success, especially:
Rose Hill Methodist Church for allowing us the use of the downstairs Hall for the event;
the Kidlington Chess Tournament for the loan of equipment;
those who kindly donated prizes for the event or made donations to the Lester Millin Memorial Fund;
John Taylor and Dave Robson, for help with the transporting of equipment;
Will Burt, for help with setting up the hall and taking entries on the door;
the many people who helped clear up afterwards;
and, especially, our controllers Tim Dickinson and Priscilla Morris, for their usual calm and efficient running of the event.
