After three rounds and a total of two hundred and twelve games, the 2019 Battersea Blitz contest is over for another year. A clear winner emerged from last night’s Final, writes ARNOLD HUNT.
When Adam Bukojemski – anxious to retrieve his Blitz crown from the temple of Midhun Unnikrishnan to whom he had amicably relinquished it two years before – was held to a draw in his very first game last night by that same Midhun; and when Adam was soundly beaten in his second game by the resourceful Tommaso Penna; it looked for all the world that his bid was not to be part of destiny’s plan and that he might have to wait another year for another try.
However, Adam (pictured above left) evidently had his own plan because after this early set back he never put a foot wrong and sailed through the field finely mixing metaphors to achieve a mighty eight points from a possible ten.
Adam’s closest rival was Midhun himself with five and a half points closely followed by Alex Makarov (stress the second syllable to achieve the proper level of fear and alarm) playing with all the intensity that might be expected of an eastern European two-handed sharpshooter.
It was a superb contest with nobody left stranded on ‘nil points’ and much closer than the figures below would suggest with the second, third and fourth-placed players gaining only one more win than the fifth and sixth-placed players.
I’d like to thank everyone including participants from the first two rounds who took part in this year’s competition and helped to make it a truly sporting occasion.
Let’s do it again next year!
Full results below:
- Adam Bukojemski +7 -1 =2
- Midhun Unnikrishnan +4 -3 =3
- Alex Makarov +4 -4 =2
- Tommaso Penna +4 -5 =1
- Ali Hill +3 -4 =3
- Conor Gay +3 -6 =1
Arnold Hunt (this year’s organiser)
