BDCL LIGHTNING TOURNAMENT - 9th MARCH 2010

This took place on Tuesday, 9th March at Olton's venue.

Seventeen teams of 4 or 5 players took part and these were divided into three sections according to team strength.

Section A was jointly won by Sutton Coldfield 'A' and West Bromwich with 12 points. Sutton took the title on tie-break but the prize money was shared. In Section 'B' South Birmingham's 'B' team on 10 ½ points just pipped Redditch 'A' with 10 pts.. Section C was won by Mutual Circle 'C' with 14 points, whilst Sutton Coldfield 'B' were the runners-up with 12 pts.

Excellent individual performances were achieved by M.Cundy (Olton) and T. Sygnowski (W. Brom) in section 'A', L. Davis (Redditch) in Section 'B'; and by D. Green (Sutton), Karol Grzywaczewski (Olton), and M. Hollier (Mutual) in Section C'. However, the prize for overall best performance was awarded to R. Lawrence (Sutton) who achieved 5/5 in Section 'A' even though heavily out-graded in most of his games.

The tourney was run ably, and much of the time single-handedly, by John Mildenhall, who deserves much praise for his hard work. Thanks are due also to the volunteers who helped John when they weren't playing; to Olton club for the use of their venue; and to the players and BDCL Committee members who supported the tourney. Overall the event was a great success and was enjoyed by most participants. On the downside the tourney (strangely) continues to attract support from only a limited number of clubs – only 6 of the BDCL's 25 clubs fielded teams.