Hamilton Chess Club

The pundits were guessing who the “Mystery Guest” was going to be at the club night on Tuesday. Turns out that that Ian had organized a “Grim Reaper” tournament and that the Mystery Guest was none other than the Grim Reaper himself (sort of). The tournament attracted 14 players and was a handicap knockout blitz that was eventually won by Micheal Freeman following a tense last round against Peter Hulshof. Players were allocated a certain number of lives at the start of the tournament based on NZCF rapid rating, losing one life for each lost game, and being eliminated when they had no remaining lives. The “Grim Reaper” was Shredder playing on an 1800 rating that acted as the opponent to the odd man out when there were an odd number of players in a particular round. Needless to say nobody survived their tussle with the reaper who served well to clean up the stragglers. The tournament was quick fire, went to seven or eight rounds, and was generally enjoyed by all. Next time I think we will amend the rules such that if any two players get paired against each other in two consecutive rounds then that round is re – drawn to avoid the repetition. And perhaps the arbiter should start with a few extra lives as well.