The tyranny of the buzzer

Lightning Chess was back.

After an enforced break in 2021 (some sort of biohazard scare, if I recall – memory fades…) the fifth(!) edition of the – now famous – NLC Lightning Chess Tournament was upon us.

27 chess masochists from across seven different Clubs met in the Lady Violet Room of 1 Whitehall Place on Tuesday 19 April 2022. Some were Lightning Chess Tournament regulars, others were there for the first time (poor dears…), all had signed up for a punishing evening of chess played to the beat of the tyrannical metronome.

Lightning chess is little played these days (with individually timed blitz being all the rage) but it is almost perfectly designed to load a player with cognitive stress as one cannot flex the time allowed between moves. No matter how complicated the position, or how unforeseen your opponent’s last move was, the 10 second clock ticks down from the moment the oppo’s piece hits the board. It’s a brutal form of chess.

Why play it, then? Well, there’s the Vase, for one thing. That’s right, the fabled Ming Vase.

The players had five games ahead of them, with the first round randomly drawn and a ‘swiss system’ of winners playing winners and losers playing losers from there on in. A tight schedule left little time for recovery before plunging into the next game.

Off we go.

Round 1

Being a random draw, there are were some unbalanced match ups. But you never quite know the strength of the person sitting opposite you and a few results turned out other than the bookies had predicted.

A notable result in the first round was the Lib Mister Barnett, freshly recruited to our ranks and new to all forms of competitive chess, snatching the full point in his first game from Brendan Mooney.

Round 2

The players had the measure of the format and were eager to start stamping some authority on the tournament. The swiss pairings were in play now so for the ambitious (and lucky) the round 2 games were about to get harder.

Round 2 saw a clash of the Liberals. The 2020 winner, Doctor Kirby, was up against Mister Barnett. Despite not resorting to a couple of glasses of Club red, Doctor Kirby showed Mister Barnett who was boss (as one would expect from the NLC Board 1) and so pocketed the full 2/2 score going into round three.

The play was intense, the brows furrowed. The buzzer relentless.

After two rounds the field begins to emerge. Six players were on the full 2 wins from two, including three Liberals, Doctor Kirby, Miss Widger and Mister Ioannou. Things were going well for the yellows.

Round 3

Things get serious in round 3. Veterans know that in a swiss five-rounder the big match ups often happen in round 4, and so to position yourself for a shot at the title you need a solid round 3. Who would clear the jump? Who would falter?

The home fans were focussed on the all-Liberal Kirby – Widger derby. In the bar, Mister William and Mister Hill offered Kirby to win odds on, and few NLC drinkers bet a pint or two on that happening. But only a fool counts out the wily Miss Widger, who is not only a cracking player, but also a speed chess enthusiast. In a pawn-down rook ending she managed to force her c-pawn through to the end. Doctor Kirby, seeing the game was up, resigned in the position below:

So after three rounds there were now only three with a perfect score – Gary Senior, Miss Widger and Richard Farleigh. Could they be caught?

Round 4

As I said, round 4 is a big round, and here we saw a clash of the big beasts. Miss Widger, as a reward (or punishment?) for beating Doctor Kirby in round 3 now faced fellow leader Richard Farleigh. The winner here would be just a breath away from Lightning Chess glory. Would the Lib overcome the man from the RAC? Alas not. Widger succumbed, and Richard Farleigh maintained his perfect record, now 4 out of 4.

And just as with the Tour de France, it’s vital that the chasing pack don’t let a breakaway occur. And the chasing pack were hungry. Peter Webster (in his first attempt at Lightning chess) was quietly rising up the ranks and was making a claim for being in the final round reckoning. In round 4 he faced the very strong Gary Senior. This was his moment to leapfrog him up to the uppermost group – and he did, bagging the full point.

It was remarkable open after round 4 and heading into the final round. Whilst Richard Farleigh was the only player left on the full score, if he slipped in the final round any of the players from second to seventh could ultimately triumph.

Round 5

The final round. Fate would now reveal her hand. The Vase glittered in the evening lights. The tension was nearly too much.

All eyes on the top-board RAC v O&C dust-up between Richard Farleigh and Peter Webster. Would Farleigh trip up? Would Webster secure the full point? What would it mean for the chasing pack. Feverous speculation ensued.

Richard Farleigh, the man of the evening, managed to power through in a close-fought game and gain the full point from Peter Webster. As a result, with a perfect 5 out of 5, he was uncatchable.

Richard Farleigh had won the day.

The Vase presentation

Time to present the victor with his spoils. The NLC names their trophies after the great Liberal leaders of the past. We have the Gladstone Trophy (long play), the Kennedy Cup (blitz) and of course the Ming Vase, named after Ming Campbell, now Lord Campbell of Pittenweem.

And the great man was on hand (or, at least, on screen) to present the trophy to Richard Farleigh himself.

Richard Farleigh – the 2022 NLC Lightning Chess Champion, and proud owner of the fabled Ming Vase.

Dinner

But enough about chess. We all know it’s really only about the dinner.

After a long evening of running the tournament (aided by a few too many pints, in retrospect), your correspondent can’t quite remember what was on the menu, but it was lovely, and more importantly there was an awful lot of wine.

Whatever was on the menu, the players seemed to enjoy it: