New Champ crowned in Lighting showdown

The date was Tuesday 14 March. The venue was the Lounge of the National Liberal Club. The prize was the fabled Ming Vase. It could only be one thing – the 5th Annual NLC Lightning Chess Tournament.

Who would triumph? Who would fall?

It was high drama at the NLC.

22 players from across Clubland chess came together to play. Richard Farleigh was the defending champion from 2022. Richard Hughes had won it twice before and was on for his hattrick. But other dark horses were stalking 1 Whitehall Place…

It was always going to be hard fought.

Round 1

It was a five round swiss, with a random draw for the first round. So some mis-matches to begin with, but there was no room for any slip ups.

The buzzer began, the nerves kicked in. Shaky hands pushed that first pawn. We were off.

The first round results were largely as the bookies had predicted, although it was good to see the Libs Mister Dias, Young Master Jacobs and Ms Birrane all score early.

The first round results:

Board	White		Black
1	Amir	1-0	Phillips
2	Radcliffe	0-1	Birrane
3	Dias	1-0	Ransome
4	Rogozinski	0-1	Farleigh
5	Giffin	0-1	Senior
6	Sharland	0-1	Hamme
7	Hughes	1-0	Widger
8	Wolff	0-1	Jacobs
9	Kir	0-1	Woloshyn
10	Woodcock	0-1	Ko
11	Kouchak	1-0	Yeoh

Early days, but here are the rankings after the first round:

Position	Player	Score	Tiebreak
1	Amir	1	0
2	Birrane	1	0
3	Dias	1	0
4	Farleigh	1	0
5	Hamme	1	0
6	Hughes	1	0
7	Jacobs	1	0
8	Ko	1	0
9	Kouchak	1	0
10	Senior	1	0
11	Woloshyn	1	0
12	Giffin	0	1
13	Kir	0	1
14	Phillips	0	1
15	Radcliffe	0	1
16	Ransome	0	1
17	Rogozinski	0	1
18	Sharland	0	1
19	Widger	0	1
20	Wolff	0	1
21	Woodcock	0	1
22	Yeoh	0	1

Round 2

With some points under their belt the leaders looked to stretch their lead and get ahead of the pack. With the swiss system now kicking in it was winners playing winners and losers playing losers. The competition was stiffening.

The Farleigh – Kouchak game was tight, but Richard Farleigh managed to secure the full point to keep his title defence intact. A notable result for Mister Sharland who got off the mark against Michael Kir. The second round results looked like this:

Board	White		Black
1	Jacobs	1-0	Amir
2	Birrane	0-1	Hughes
3	Ko	1-0	Dias
4	Farleigh	1-0	Kouchak
5	Hamme	0-1	Senior
6	Woloshyn	0-1	Giffin
7	Sharland	1-0	Kir
8	Phillips	1-0	Wolff
9	Widger	1-0	Radcliffe
10	Ransome	1-0	Woodcock
11	Yeoh	0-1	Rogozinski

So the two favourites Farleigh and Hughes were pushing out into the lead along with Gary Senior. Young Master Jacobs was snapping at their heels in third place. The standings after round 2:

Position	Player	Score	Tiebreak
1	Farleigh	2	2
2	Hughes	2	2
3	Senior	2	2
4	Jacobs	2	1
5	Ko	2	1
6	Amir	1	3
7	Dias	1	3
8	Giffin	1	3
9	Hamme	1	3
10	Birrane	1	2
11	Kouchak	1	2
12	Rogozinski	1	2
13	Widger	1	2
14	Phillips	1	1
15	Ransome	1	1
16	Sharland	1	1
17	Woloshyn	1	1
18	Wolff	0	3
19	Woodcock	0	3
20	Kir	0	2
21	Radcliffe	0	2
22	Yeoh	0	2

Round 3

Round three produced the shock. Gary Senior had White against Richard Farleigh and took the defending champ into a prepared line, pushing through the middle and catching Black in a trap, with resignation to follow. The field had opened up. It was all to play for.

And the Liberal that many before the tournament considered the Libs best hope for a result – Young Master Jacobs – took Richard Hughes right through to an adjourned position as time run out for the game. NLC member Mister Shredder was called down from the bar to look over the position and opine on the winner. It looked pretty tight to most of the assembled players – with Young Master Jacobs planning to play Nxa5 and leaving White a rook up for four pawns, one of which was nearly home. But Mister Shredder took a sup of his pint and and said that would have been a mistake as after 1…Nxa5 2.Rxg6+ Kh7 3.Nf5 f1=Q 4.Rg6#. So it had to be 1…Nd8+ but that led to a clear White victory, so awarded Richard Hughes the victory. Tough stuff for the young Lib.

The results after the third round:

Board	White		Black
1	Senior	1-0	Farleigh
2	Hughes	1-0	Jacobs
3	Amir	0-1	Ko
4	Phillips	1-0	Birrane
5	Dias	1-0	Sharland
6	Giffin	0-1	Ransome
7	Rogozinski	1-0	Hamme
8	Kouchak	1-0	Woloshyn
9	Kir	0-1	Widger
10	Radcliffe	1-0	Woodcock
11	Wolff	0-1	Yeoh

With Richard Farleigh stumbling and Gary Senior and Richard Hughes powering on, it was Edward Ko who was slipping up the inside and taking a good position going into the all important fourth round. The standings after round 3:

Position	Player	Score	Tiebreak
1	Hughes	3	5
2	Senior	3	4
3	Ko	3	3
4	Farleigh	2	7
5	Dias	2	6
6	Jacobs	2	4
7	Kouchak	2	4
8	Rogozinski	2	4
9	Widger	2	4
10	Ransome	2	3
11	Phillips	2	2
12	Amir	1	7
13	Birrane	1	6
14	Giffin	1	6
15	Hamme	1	6
16	Yeoh	1	4
17	Radcliffe	1	3
18	Sharland	1	3
19	Woloshyn	1	3
20	Woodcock	0	6
21	Wolff	0	5
22	Kir	0	4

Round 4

This is often the round that determines the winner. Get this round right and sometimes the fifth round is a dead rubber. All eyes on the top boards, then.

And another huge shock. The Liberal hope Young Master Jacobs had fallen away, so it was the Lib Mister Dias who took on the burden of doing it for Gladstone. In a result that lost the bookies a fair slug of wagers, Mister Dias quickly dispatching the leader Gary Senior. Gasps were heard as Gary Senior offered his resignation and for one brief, delicious moment, Mister Dias was leading the pack. Would a Lib sweep on to claim the title following Doctor Kirby’s 2021 victory? It looked that way, for all of three and a half minutes, but still.

The other results began to come in. Richard Farleigh continued to eat up the opposition, Steve Phillips being his victim in this round. But Edward Ko now pushed out into the lead and kept his distance from the chasing pack, seeing off yet another rival, Richard Hughes. The results of the fourth round:

Board	White		Black
1	Ko	1-0	Hughes
2	Senior	0-1	Dias
3	Farleigh	1-0	Phillips
4	Jacobs	0-1	Rogozinski
5	Widger	0-1	Kouchak
6	Ransome	0-1	Radcliffe
7	Woloshyn	1-0	Amir
8	Birrane	1-0	Sharland
9	Hamme	1-0	Giffin
10	Yeoh	1-0	Kir
11	Woodcock	0-1	Wolff

Oh my word – it was tight at the top. Going in to the final round there were fully seven players that might, depending upon the final round results, still claim the Vase. The standings after round 4:

Position	Player	Score	Tiebreak
1	Ko	4	7
2	Farleigh	3	11
3	Dias	3	10
4	Hughes	3	10
5	Kouchak	3	9
6	Rogozinski	3	9
7	Senior	3	9
8	Birrane	2	8
9	Hamme	2	8
10	Jacobs	2	8
11	Widger	2	8
12	Phillips	2	7
13	Yeoh	2	7
14	Radcliffe	2	6
15	Ransome	2	6
16	Woloshyn	2	5
17	Amir	1	10
18	Giffin	1	9
19	Sharland	1	7
20	Wolff	1	6
21	Woodcock	0	9
22	Kir	0	7

Round 5

So this was it. The final round, and the Vase was in reach. The goddess Caissa was stirring. Who would she favour?

The draw pitted Farleigh against Phillips, so he didn’t get his chance to take on Edward Ko directly. He quickly dispatched Mister Dias (thus ending Liberal hopes) so all eyes turned to the top board of Kouchak vs Ko. Would Jason Kouchak be able to take down Edward Ko and let Richard Farleigh sneak through to a win on tiebreak score?

It was not to be. Edward Ko spotted a repetition (or a loss for white) so Jason Kouchak had to take the draw by repitition and the two top board players shook on the draw.

The results of round 5:

Board	White		Black
1	Kouchak	0.5-0.5	Ko
2	Dias	0-1	Farleigh
3	Hughes	0-1	Senior
4	Rogozinski	1-0	Birrane
5	Ransome	1-0	Hamme
6	Widger	1-0	Jacobs
7	Phillips	0-1	Woloshyn
8	Radcliffe	0-1	Yeoh
9	Sharland	0-1	Amir
10	Giffin	1-0	Wolff
11	Kir	0.5-0.5	Woodcock

It was enough for Edward Ko. He’d won thorough, undefeated with 4.5 out of 5. The tiebreak showed that Richard Farleigh, Jay Dias and Jason Kouchak had faced the toughest set of opponents over the course of the night, but that doesn’t matter unless the scores are level. Edward Ko hadn’t lost, and so was the worthy winner of the 2023 Lightning Competition and the new owner of the Ming Vase. The final standings after round 5:

Position	Player	Score	Tiebreak
1	Ko	4.5	12
2	Farleigh	4	16.5
3	Senior	4	14
4	Rogozinski	4	13
5	Kouchak	3.5	17.5
6	Dias	3	16.5
7	Hughes	3	15.5
8	Widger	3	11
9	Yeoh	3	11
10	Woloshyn	3	10
11	Ransome	3	9.5
12	Hamme	2	14
13	Giffin	2	13
14	Jacobs	2	13
15	Amir	2	12.5
16	Birrane	2	12
17	Phillips	2	12
18	Radcliffe	2	11.5
19	Sharland	1	9.5
20	Wolff	1	9.5
21	Woodcock	0.5	11
22	Kir	0.5	10.5

The Victor!

So all that was left was to award the victor the spoils. A new name on the Ming Vase!

Dinner

The Liberal Chess Circle hold to the mantra that whilst Chess is King, dinner is Consort, and so it was off to dinner and a chance for the exhausted combatants to refresh their shredded nerves.

Mackerel starter, chicken supreme and a tropical fruit finish, washed down with lashings of NLC plonk. Followed by port and cocktails in the bar afterwards. A fitting end to a fun night.

Thanks from the NLC Chess Circle to all those from other clubs that came to play in the 2023 Lightning Chess Tournament.