Our Christmas Blitz competition was held on Wednesday December 18th at the Crown Hotel. We had eight players at 7:30 pm so decided on a double round robin with 5 minutes on the clock. Everyone paid £1 entry and the winner would take all.
The games began immediately then Archie arrived after most had finished their first round so he would have to catch up. It wasn’t too long before a clear pattern was emerging: The strongest players at long play were also the strongest at blitz, with one or two upsets. Managing the clock seems to be the key to winning at blitz and staying cool when under time pressure, all of which sounds easy enough but when you reach a position where you know that there’s a good move, you have a little think and before you know it, your flag has fallen.
We had expected the competition to have finished by about 9:30 pm but by 10:00 pm there were still some matches outstanding. Archie had school in the morning so had to leave with two matches still to play. Dave S and Dave H, decided that they too had had enough as they were not going to win the competition.
Alice was on 12 points with one to play and Jacob had 10 points with two to play but as their opponents had already left, their remaining games were won by default, leaving both on 14 points and so, the Penrith Christmas Blitz 2024 ended in a tie.
Although blitz isn’t for everyone, it is fun and occasionally, the worst of us can win a game. Thanks to everyone for taking part and to Mike and Anna for hosting this year’s Penrith Christmas Blitz.