As the famous saying goes: “The pipped shall become the pipper”.
With Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) getting so narrowly pipped a few weeks back it was inevitable that his day would come and we would see him top out on a Wednesday night.
Wednesday 17 was his night. After a slow start losing his first game to Doctor Saldanha, he went on an astonishing five game streak beating Doctor Kirby twice, Mister Widdicombe twice and Mister Bitty. As Captain Chamberlain said: “Championship form”.
Games of the week
Each week, this journal’s Editorial Committee will present to the Chess Circle two online games from that week’s session that, in their esteemed view, display a particularly lively charm. Perhaps it will be a ferocious attack, or a dogged defence, maybe a catastrophic blunder or simply something that piques the Committee’s interest…
Two from Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon).
The first is his win over Doctor Kirby. The Doctor’s scalp is always a noteworthy trophy, but most must hope for a slip from the Lightning and Blitz champ in order to prosper. Not Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) who overpowered the Doctor fair and square in this positional encounter that centered on the career of the black c pawn from the 13th move.
And the second game, noteworthy because it was the decider. At this point Miss Widger was flying, and in a similar manner to Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) had recovered from a sluggish start to patch together a run of wins that put her in first place with this final game left to play out. Win, and Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) would triumph, draw or lose and Miss Widger takes the glory.
All looked lost for the eventual victor as Mister Widdicombe was able to counter the growing kingside pressure with a sneaky knight fork to go the exchange up on move 19. But White had more to give and counterpunched with a nasty revealed check on move 26 gaining the black queen and leaving him 3 points up on material and with a strong postion.
But could he finish it? The clock ticked down to the final seconds and the time trouble addict felt the adrenalin in his veins once more. Neurons firing like a precision engineered V8-racing engine he ended things with a flourish. And with that, took the laurels.
Next week – Wednesday 24 June – it’s another Arena. We’ll do a Swiss the week after.
Impressive Nigel!
To be fair, Mister Giffin’s game against me should be considered null and void. A faulty Apple trackpad at my end and a misunderstanding by me about replaying moves were the only reasons I appeared to win the game. In any case, our game was clearly irrelevant.
Well done Nigel.