T8. Winter handicap

Date: Friday, 1st July, 2016

The Winter handicap is a novelty event, designed to even out the disparities between different playing strengths, and give every one a fair chance at winning.

It takes the form of a time penalty against the stronger player. Depending on the difference in playing strength, stronger players have 9, 5 or even just 2 minutes to complete all their moves, with their opponents having 10 minutes.

Reza Daneshvar showed coolness under pressure, winning games with only seconds to spare, and remained undefeated to take out first place.

The Tournament also saw Jack Smith rising to defeat Championship Qualifiers Owen Courtis and Geoff Davis, then draw with Reza Daneshvar to take the lead going into the last round against Michael Sugrue. Despite being a piece down, Smith mounted a crushing seventh-rank attack, but missed a difficult winning continuation and had to settle for equal second place with Sugrue. An impressive result from the club’s youngest member.

Round 1

No Name              Result   Name           

 1 Mcclaren, N (5)     0:1    Sugrue, M (1)  
 2 Daneshvar, R (2)    1:0    Wendrich, P (6)
 3 Smith, J (7)        1:0    Courtis, O (3) 
 4 Davis, G (4)        1:0    Ashworth, C (8)

Round 2

No Name             Result   Name            

 1 Sugrue, M (1)      0:1    Davis, G (4)    
 2 Smith, J (7)      .5:.5   Daneshvar, R (2)
 3 Courtis, O (3)     1:0    Wendrich, P (6) 
 4 Ashworth, C (8)    1:0    Mcclaren, N (5)

Round 3

No Name              Result   Name           

 1 Davis, G (4)        0:1    Smith, J (7)   
 2 Daneshvar, R (2)   .5:.5   Sugrue, M (1)  
 3 Ashworth, C (8)     1:0    Courtis, O (3) 
 4 Wendrich, P (6)     1:0    Mcclaren, N (5)

Round 4

No Name             Result   Name            

 1 Smith, J (7)       1:0    Ashworth, C (8) 
 2 Davis, G (4)       0:1    Daneshvar, R (2)
 3 Sugrue, M (1)      1:0    Wendrich, P (6) 
 4 Mcclaren, N (5)    0:1    Courtis, O (3)

Round 5

No Name              Result   Name           

 1 Sugrue, M (1)       1:0    Smith, J (7)   
 2 Daneshvar, R (2)    1:0    Mcclaren, N (5)
 3 Courtis, O (3)     .5:.5   Davis, G (4)   
 4 Wendrich, P (6)     1:0    Ashworth, C (8)

Final Standings

Place Name            Feder Rtg  Loc Score M-Buch. Buch. Progr.

  1   Daneshvar, Reza       1743     4         8.0  11.5   11.5
 2-3  Smith, Jack           1200     3.5       8.5  14.5   12.0
      Sugrue, Michael       1867     3.5       8.0  12.0    9.5
 4-5  Davis, Geoff          1458     2.5       9.5  15.5    9.5
      Courtis, Owen         1634     2.5       6.5  10.0    6.5
 6-7  Wendrich, Paul        1300     2         8.0  12.0    4.0
      Ashworth, Chris       1000     2         7.0  10.5    7.0
  8   Mcclaren, Nick        1350     0         8.0  14.0    0.0