In the absence of last year’s star guests and other visitors, this year’s Lightning Championship was contested by a small field of 15 players – disappointingly, fewer than in 2004, when the club was much smaller – possibly following the UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal was too much for some players. Nevertheless, the event was keenly contested. The crucial game between the two highest graded players came in Round 3, when Ian blundered a piece against John Collins, who thereafter resisted all efforts to complicate the position and won very comfortably.
The winners were:
The table shows the full round by round results.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Collins | +11b | +3w | +2b | +3w | =4b | +10w | 5½ |
| 2 | Ian Kingston | +9w | +13b | –1w | +8b | +5w | +7b | 5 |
| 3 | Phil Burley | +10w | +15b | =7w | –1b | +6w | =5b | 4 |
| 4 | Robert Willoughby | –12b | +6w | +13w | +9b | =1w | –8b | 3½ |
| 5 | Eamonn Lim | –8b | +11w | +15w | +7b | –2b | =3w | 3½ |
| 6 | Andrew Garside | =7w | –4b | +11w | +15b | –3b | +14w | 3½ |
| 7 | Michael Zhang | =6b | +8w | =3b | –5w | +9b | –1w | 3 |
| 8 | Aarav Gupta-Kaistha | +5w | –7b | +14b | –2w | –10b | +4w | 3 |
| 9 | Tracey Clegg | –2b | +10w | +12b | –4w | –7w | +13b | 3 |
| 10 | Heather Garside | –3b | –9b | +bye | +13w | +8w | –1b | 3 |
| 11 | Graham Garside | –1w | –5b | –6b | +bye | +14w | +15b | 3 |
| 12 | Ross McKay | +4w | –1b | –9w | –14b | =15w | +bye | 2½ |
| 13 | John Crawley | +14w | –2w | –4b | –10b | +bye | –9w | 2 |
| 14 | Matthew Bevan | –13b | +bye | –8w | +12w | –11b | –6b | 2 |
| 15 | Arun Maini | +bye | –3w | –5b | –6w | =12b | –11w | 1½ |
Key:
+ : Win
= : Draw
– : Loss
w : white
b : black