All Play All Simul
Seven Sidcup players were nursing their bruises this morning after last night’s time-handicapped all-play-all simul! Seven players each playing their six opponents over 21 boards at the Hurst Community Centre.
Several yellow cards were shown as the participants threw their bodies around the playing area.
At one point Dave Helps was trapped by a skilful pincer movement by Keith Thompson and Chris Cheeseman before managing to barge himself to freedom.
Slippery Mark Lenette seemed to ghost around his boards capitalising on his time advantage over his rivals and soon built up a good lead as wins on time began to add up. But he was being pegged back as Rob Pezet,
Bob Mitchell and Dave Helps played some solid chess, picking-off their rivals one-by-one.
David Gilbert faded with exhaustion and was taken away for a psychiatric assessment for organising the event.
After two hours, an unusual evening had been won by Rob Pezet, with Dave Helps taking the silver medal and Mark Lenette a splendid third. The wooden spoon belonged to Chris Cheeseman who managed a win over Keith Thompson after Keith forgot about the game for the first half-an-hour leaving him a long way down on the clock!
The results were captured for posterity on Mark’s iPhone:
David Gilbert