Billings Chess Club Blitz – August 22, 2019
The Billings Chess Club offered its first rated blitz tournament last night! The time control was G5 with no delay. Ten players came out to test their skills at speed chess, despite near hurricane like conditions outside as we waited for the last two players to arrive. All but one did not have a USCF blitz rating, but most had an online blitz rating. Mo Bain, who hasn’t been seen around tournament halls in recent times, moseyed on in like he owned the place. He ran the table for a 6/6 score and a sole first place! He narrowly escaped a defeat in round 4 as the Tournament Director (Mattson) missed a mate in 1 in an exciting and dynamic Spanish. (sigh)
It was fun to see significant improvement among some of our newer players. Most notably, Ted Hash scored a convincing defeat of David Duke in Round 4. Travis Glidden, newcomer to the BCC, scored 2 wins. In fact, all players scored at least one win on the night, so no goose-eggs.
The funniest moment came in a Rd 1 game between Travis and Josh Brown. Travis moved his queen placing Josh’s king in check, but Josh ignored it and checked Travis’ king with his own queen! Josh noticed that his move was illegal but Travis did not claim a win, but instead moved his king and ultimately lost the game. Perhaps the players were not warmed up yet, or speed chess is just a different animal!
Many thanks to Bill Lynch for offering his business space for the tourney.