Ashland XXI - Start your clocks! Who turned out the lights??!!!

A bizarre start to Ashland XXI?! The round got underway as normal. Around 30 mins into play a severe storm moved through the area and lights flickered several times. Naturally, just as it looked as if the storm was almost past us the power went off sixty minutes into play. There was no emergency lighting in the playing rooms so we decide to wait a little while and see if the power would come back on.

After about 30mins at 9:00 and still in the dark the decision was made to allow those that wanted to finish their game to move to the Burger King on Bush River Road at I20 about a mile away. At this point we had one game completed, one game continued by cell phone light on site!, the participants of one game had vanished?!, one game agreed to a draw, one participant accepted a loss (basically resigned) when he didn't want to continue the game and refused a draw offer?! Two players from out of town were allowed to go home and finish their game there. As it turned out only two games moved to Burger King to be completed. Naturally one game went the full time limit and past the 11:00pm closing time of the restaurant. There was no problem though and a big Thank You! to Burger King for allowing us to invade and finish our games! Thank you to everyone for your cooperation!

Here are the results, Erik Murrah (1720) took the point from Paul Farb (1901), Klaus Johnson (1840) outlasted Russell Thurmond (1600), Adam Shaw (1780) picked up the point from Ralph Buske (1492) and George Morton (1726) won over David Boyd (1319).

In the Amateur Section, Mike Boone (1334) settled peacefully with Jaime Sanyer (1161), Darell Hunt (1112) defeated Mike Mayfield (1308), James Price (1098) won over Birney Blind (1237) and Max Witherell (1181) scored the point over David Haller (UNR).

We've had a lot of new players showing up recently and we hope this trend continues! If you've been considering coming out but haven't made it now is the time! There's plenty of new players to battle and learn with.

The hopefully uneventful Round 2 will be Thursday, June 9.

The early entry deadlines are fast approaching for the Statesville Open, June 17-19 and the SC Open, June 24-26. Club players are planning to attend both tournaments.

Check out the Survivor Series at Tiger Chess in Charlotte. This a series of six, one day tournaments. The next one is June 11, This Saturday! Entry fee for Cola Club members is $17! This is discounted from $25 so take advantage of it.

The next three Reverse Angle tournaments in Charlotte have been scheduled for Aug 13, Oct 1 and Nov 19. Check the QCCA site for details.

We're trying to put together a couple club matches with Queen City and Tiger Chess. Let us know if you're interested in playing either here in Columbia or traveling to Charlotte.

Don't forget that Augusta area players are now meeting every Sat morning at Arsenal Games and Hobbies. Check the Augusta Players site for details.

See you next week!