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CHIPPING SODBURY RAPIDPLAY
Graham Mill-Wilson
What is likely to be the last CS Rap (as I like
to call it) took place on 22nd April. I had advertised
the fact that my wife and I are moving away, and a good crowd turned
up for my swansong, 43 players in all. The Open section was
disappointingly small, but the Minor made up for it! Anyway, I
think all enjoyed themselves, and I certainly did.
The juniors put in a good showing once again,
and North Bristol showed their strength. It was good to see Yate
players taking part, and winning a major prize for the first time
ever!
The Open was jointly won by Downend’s new
player Attila Reznak and South Bristol’s Paul Helbig with 5/6. The
grading prize (Under 200) was won by Dominic Bennett, and I don’t
think anybody was more surprised than he was.
The Major was won by Yate’s Andrew Penn, who
last had a rapidplay grade (123) in the year 2000! His brother
Richard, whose last grade was 177 in 1994, played in the Open and
finished with a creditable 3/6. Three players finished joint second
in the Major with 4, namely Duncan Macarthur of Keynsham, Adrian
Champion, currently Keynsham but playing for Yate next season, and
Nigel Towers from Redditch. The grading prize went to North
Bristol’s Michael Fielding.
The Minor, the biggest section by a distance,
was much clearer, with Jack Tye repeating his win from the previous
tournament last October, and Nick Cunliffe finishing second. As the
section was so large (21 players, compared to 12 in the Major and 10
in the Open), there were two grading prizes. The prize for grades
between 93 and 110 was won by Pete Saunders, putting in a rare
appearance in a tournament, and the Under 92 by Fredrik Carpelan of
Taunton.
I received a delightful surprise at the prize
giving when a card and a bottle of wine were presented to me. That
was very nice, and a decent wine too. I said at the time it wouldn’t
make it through the evening and it didn’t.
Although that’s it for me in Bristol
tournaments (for now at least), I don’t expect to disappear
completely. I’ve already been lined up for arbiting duties in Devon,
and I may well escape to Bristol for an occasional tournament to
play in, perhaps even a Chipping Sodbury rapidplay if someone else
takes it on…
Attila Reznak & Paul Helbig ( Joint
winners of the Open Section ) |
Graham Mill-Wilson - Controller
Thanks to Graham - We hope he enjoyed his bottle of wine ! |
.JPG)
