Congratulations to
Lawrence Powell on winning the Championship flight, by prevailing over
Martin Barkwill in a match that was streamed live over the internet. Lawrence also scoped the optional pool prize and thus walked away with over £6,000.
A full bracket of 64 players contested the Championship flight, including current World Champion Mochizuki (Mochy) Masayuki (who enjoyed no luck at all). With players from Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Turkey and the USA, as well as a hefty British contingent, it was a truly international event. Sadly, Natvey (Falafel) Natanson was a no show but, even so, this was a very strong field, perhaps the strongest yet assembled in the UK.
As at last year's event, FIBS players were thin on the ground. Player 'london' (we haven't seen her much of late, "a bit rusty" she said) however won the Advanced flight while your's truly cashed in a modest way by making it (after a couple of buy-backs ;-) to the final of the Advanced Last Chance competition. All results listed here:
http://www.wps.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bristol_open_2009_results.htm with further updates, summaries and photos to be added in due course.
A highlight was the seminar Mochy gave on Priming and Blitzing Strategies ("That alone was worth the entry cost!" said one.). That and the bar, where one could buy a decent bottle of '06 Medoc for a fiver - probably my undoing, come Sunday morning...