Lightning Ray Wins City Tournament
Ray Collett won the 2010 Lightening Tournament of Worcester City Chess Club. Ray said: "I'm thrilled. I expected the club's younger and stronger players to win". The first phase of the tournament was run as two pools. Steve Mellor, club honorary secretary was first in Pool A with 4 points from 4 games, runner-up was Jim Keene and third was Phil Smith. In Pool B, Ray Collett led with 4 from 4 but he admitted he had a luck escape when playing Pat Greenow. New member Ed Osbourn was second on 3 points and Worcester University student Adrian Valer, from Romania was 3rd on 2 points. In the first semi-finals Ray Collett faced Jim Keene and forced a neat mate of Jim's cornered king. In the second semi-final, Ed Osbourn, playing white, gained a well deserved victory over the 2009 Club Champion Steve Mellor. Ray Collett started badly in the final with Ed Osbourn. Ray overlooked a simple queen fork to lose a piece very early on. All looked set for a major upset, but Ray trained his remaining pieces on his opponent's king. This bore fruit in a complex position when black took the wrong bishop allowing a mate in two. "If you haven't made your mind up after 10 seconds your game falls apart. But you do need luck as well as skill " explained Ray with a smile.
| The Terrett Trophy was presented by tournament controller Andrew Farthing. | 
Andrew Farthing (left) presents Ray Collett (right) with the Terret Trophy for his win in the 2010 Lightning Tournament |
In a lightning game, players move at the sound of a buzzer every 10 seconds. Compared with standard games, which take up to 5 hours, lightning play requires quick calculation. Lightning and 5-minute speed chess share this characteristic, but in lightning chess a player never has the luxury of spending more than 10 seconds on a move in a complicated position.
Full Results
| Pool A | SM | JK | PS | JC | AB | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Mellor | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Jim Keene | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Semi finals |
| Phil Smith | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 2 | Collett 1 - 0 Keene |
| John Clark | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | Osbourne 1 - 0 Mellor |
| Aidan Binding | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | |
| Pool B | RC | RY | EO | PG | AV | Total | |
| Ray Collett | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Roger Yates | 0 | x | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Final |
| Ed Osbourn | 0 | 1 | x | 1 | 1 | 3 | Collett 1 - 0 Osbourn |
| Pat Greenow | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | |
| Adrian Valer | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | x | 2 |