The January grades are out and can be seen on the members page or the ECF grading pages.
Plenty of interesting changes (Brief summary below)
Smallbone, Kieran 215
Shaw, Robert 195
Heppell, James 177
Davison, Colin 160
Olsson, Martin 156
Cattermole, Philip 153
Soames, Anthony 152
Gartside, Carl 151
Colville, Philip 150
Taylor, John Paul 148
Trier, Joachim 148
Lobo, Denzil 144
Laurence, Geoff 142
Brough, Anthony 137
Lane, Tony 121
Murphy, Richard 120
Astley, John 116
Renshaw, Mick 111
Jouannet, Marc 104
Robson, Thomas 98
Woodhall, Brian 74
Dawson, Stephen 64
Curr, Patrick 48
Renshaw, Angie 48
So we now reach the semi-final. A single game played under standard time controls (80m + 10s); based on number of whites/blacks in preliminary rounds we have:
Martin Olsson (B) v Colin Davison (W), Joachim Trier (W) v James Heppell (B).
The season’s second rapid-play took place downstairs in the Queen’s, our normal clubroom having been taken over by Father Christmas for his Grotto.
This meant squeezing two boards onto one table leaving only just enough room for that vital ingredient, the clock.
Robert arrived suitably attired in his Rudolf kit and the red nose did it as he sailed through the evening with five straight wins and even with the severe handicap he rarely seemed to be in trouble.
It was an unusual pleasure to award joint second place to Tony Lane and Roy Gray who managed to accrue 3.5 points, sometimes skilfully and sometimes with the aid of the great goddess Fortuna.
My commiserations go to Angie, who gracefully drifted through the competition with a smile on her face despite at the completion of each game receiving the score of a UK Eurovision Song entrant. The controller gave two people too many blacks and one two many whites but otherwise he acquitted himself well enough and enjoyed the night.
I am looking forward to the Spring competition, my last in charge, when it would be great to emulate the turnout in strength and numbers that we had last year. It would seem that Robert is determined to get his hands on that cup again.