Downend Gnomes and Buzzers

30^th December 1998

Every year, Downend holds a post-Christmas buzzer tournament and, every year without fail, it is won by Tyson Mordue. For some reason, Tyson did not make it this year (perhaps the change from the normal Tuesday to a Wednesday threw him) and so I found myself in the unusual position of being the top seed. The tournament is a very relaxed and friendly affair, mostly Downend players with a few visitors. This year the entry fee was £1; an extra £1.50 entitled you to partake of an excellent buffet. The tournament prizes consisted of bottles of wine, boxes of chocolates and books and similar things with the convention being that the player who finishes in first place gets first choice of the prizes and so on. Sometimes this can lead to some unexpected decisions - I was very surprised last year to get the bottle of whiskey when I finished third; first and second choosing wine or chocolates. The unusual item among the prizes this year was a garden gnome and, for some insane reason or other, it was the prize that I decided I wanted to take home.

Of course, things did not go to plan. I won the first two, then dropped a half point to Colin Powney and, disaster, lost to Trevor Langdon. Another draw followed, and then a final round win against Ian Ponter (left) brought me to four points and joint fifth place.

Pete Johnson took first place on tie-break from Paul Spiller. Pete selected a bottle of wine, so Paul grabbed the garden gnome (see right)! There were also prizes for third and fourth places, under-120 grading, furthest traveler (Ian Ponter), and most draws (me!). To sum up, yet another success for Downend in staging the most social tournament of the year.

Leading places (all Downend players, unless stated):

22 players took part.