To celebrate the end of the year, a Christmas Blitz was held in Naomh Barróg Chess Club on Tuesday December 17th. This was a chance for club members to have some drinks, socialise, and of course play some chess!
17 players took part and were organised into two all-play-all groups. To balance the different skill levels and give everyone a fair chance of winning, players were given different amounts of time depending on their rating. Low rated players had 5 minutes per game, while the highest rated players had only 2 minutes per game. As there was no increment, this lead to some desperate time scrambles!
There were quite a few upsets and surprise victories and when the group stage finished, Eric faced Oliver, and Shane played Sebastian in the semi-finals.
The final was between Eric and Sebastian and initially Sebastian took the lead by winning an exchange. However, Eric had a passed pawn that could not be stopped and its promotion proved decisive. For the second year in a row, Eric was the winner of the Christmas Blitz.
Congratulations also to Senan who won Best Junior player.
Thank you to everyone for taking part and enjoy the Christmas break. The club will reopen on January 7th.