Thursday saw the second university Blitz tournament of the academic year, making good use of a gap in the League calendar. Despite the relatively short notice, 18 people were able to take time out from their busy flossing and TikTok schedule to take part including some new players to the club. Whoever is this enigmatic Ronoc Notnew, and why was a League meeting arranged on the same evening?
With a range of abilities and a brutal 5+0, the atmosphere was very friendly and even the touch-move rule was generously waived in some games. Ultimately, the medal places were dominated by the University A team players with Dan Savidge taking gold, but there was plenty of fight on all boards, especially with random pairings being assigned a spot prize where the winner of the game would win a chess book. Hopefully, this is something the club will do again in future just in case you need more reason to attend!
They say it is madness to analyse a Blitz game, so let’s have a quick look at the key game between the top two finishers:
The full results can be found here. The next social will probably involve GM Jobava watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.