The 2007 Lightning Championship took place on Monday 16 July. Somewhat appropriately, the early rounds were accompanied by a thunderstorm, and the chaos outside appeared to communicate itself to the players: it was a close race all the way through, with numerous upsets. Ian Kingston (the favourite on grading) and defending champion John Collins both slipped up in Round 2, while Phillip Burley kept winning steadily and was joined in the lead after three rounds by the ungraded Mohammed Mozaffari. Phil won their top board clash to take the sole lead in Round 4, while behind him four players – Ian, Mohammed, Andrew Garside and Sohum Dhir – were gathered on 3 points, hoping for a chance to catch the leader.
Phil’s luck ran out in Round 5 against Ian, and Andrew and Sohum both won to create a four-way tie at the start of the last round. Phil nevertheless held the advantage because of his superior tie-break. A quirk of the draw kept all four players apart in the final round, but also contrived to give all of them the black pieces. Ian won quickly, shortly followed by Sohum. Phil picked up several pawns and won his game to secure first place on tie-break, and Andrew completed the winning quartet with a neat endgame win. The leading group ended two points clear of the rest of the field – a very strange result.
Andrew Garside took the Under 16 Championship and Sohum Dhir claimed the Under 13 Championship.
Final standings:
| Pos | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phillip Burley | +16b | +4w | +2w | +5b | –3w | +7b | 5 |
| 2 | Andrew Garside | +14b | +3w | –1b | +7w | +5w | +8b | 5 |
| 3 | Ian Kingston | +15w | –2b | +11w | +6w | +1b | +5b | 5 |
| 4 | Sohum Dhir | +11w | –1b | +14w | +9b | +6w | +10b | 5 |
| 5 | Mohammed Mozaffari | +7b | +12w | +6b | –1w | –2b | –3w | 3 |
| 6 | Robert Willoughby | +10w | +8b | –5w | –3b | –4b | +15w | 3 |
| 7 | John Crawley | –5w | +13b | +8w | –2b | +9w | –1w | 3 |
| 8 | John Collins | +9b | –6w | –7b | +11w | +12b | –2w | 3 |
| 9 | Graham Garside | –8w | +10b | +12b | –4w | –7b | +16w | 3 |
| 10 | Jordan Nicholson | –6b | –9w | +13b | +14b | +15w | –4w | 3 |
| 11 | Nikolai Berdunov | –4b | +16w | –3b | –8b | +13w | +12w | 3 |
| 12 | Daniel Lin | +13w | –5b | –9w | +15b | –8w | –11b | 2 |
| 13 | Heather Garside | –12b | –7w | –10w | +16b | –11b | +14w | 2 |
| 14 | Saaras Mehan | –2w | +15b | –4b | –10w | –16w | –13b | 1 |
| 15 | Tracey Clegg | –3b | –14w | +16b | –12w | –10b | –6b | 1 |
| 16 | Gary Edgington | –1w | –11b | –15w | –13w | +14b | –9b | 1 |
Ties broken by Sum of Progressive Scores followed by Sum of Opponents’ Scores