Club Spring Lightning

Crawford Macnab

27 April 2026

A nice round sixteen players took part in the Spring Allegro divided in to two sections of 8 players each.

This allowed for seven rounds with each player getting a game against all the other players in their group.

In section one, Allan had a near perfect score only dropping a half point to Eric in the last round.

Sections two was tighter with Charles and Peter both scoring 5½ out of 7. As there head to head game was drawn, a play off was played with Peter set to win on time, only to leave his king in check to an illegal move.

The play off for the trophy was then played between Charles and Allan, with Allan having 7 minutes and 5 minutes for Charles. The first game was close and after a number of exchanges a draw was agreed. A further game was played with colours reversed, and a minute less on each players clock. Allan sacrificed material to open lines against the black king and a strong bishop pin against the knight on f6. Choosing not to castle with Kf1, an h4 pawn push was followed by a Rh1-h3 to g3 manoeuvre that proved decisive.

This is Allan’s first time winning the Spring Lightning.

Well done to everyone and good to see 10 year old Adam making his debut.

Section One

• 1: Allan McDiarmid (6½/7)
• 2-3: Isaac Boyd, Marcel Van Oijen (4/7)
• 4-5: Ruaridh Neave, Patrick Miller (3/7)
• 6-8: Mathew Boyd, Eric Smith, Gerry Brown (2½/7)

Section Two

• 1-2: Peter Duckworth, Charles Gunn-Russell (5½/7)
• 3: Richard Scott (4½/7)
• 3: Sam Kis (4/7)
• 4: Sam Clucas (3½/7)
• 5: Adam Borthwick, Stuart McKinney (2/7)
• 6: Nick West (1/7)