Watford Midweek B-Level

[<<] [>>] by Simon Hathrell at Watford
15th August 2022 (AC)

Players & handicaps:

Brian Havill (0)
Cliff Jones (1)
Charlie Martin (1)
Mike Hills (1.5)
Anthony Hardwicke (2)
Heather Bennett (2)
Richard Peperell (2)
John Noble (4)
Don Beck (2.5)
Alan Clark (3.5)
Geoff Johnson (3)
Andre Machell (6)

The full entry of 16 players a few weeks before the tournament had been eroded by a series of late withdrawals for various reasons, so that by the day of the tournament the number had reduced to 12. This was just enough to run the tournament as two independent all-play-all blocks, with the three players having a 2 handicap being split between the blocks by their Dgrade.

The weather conditions were good and play started on time each day, with three rounds scheduled on the first day and two on the second. There was a fairly generous 3-hour time-limit for each game, but the majority of games were well contested, and the conditions were moderately tricky with variable pace as some patches of grass had dried out more than others, so the consequence was that 23% of the games went to time in the lower handicap block and 45% in the higher handicap block.

Unfortunately Mike Hills had to withdraw after the first day because of a family emergency, which left an odd number of players on the second day - disappointing for the two who had to sit out for a round, but in the end it didn't affect the final results, as Brian Havill and Don Beck both won their respective blocks with a clean sweep of 5 wins out of 5.

We hope to see everyone back again next year!

Tournament winners: Brian Havill, Don Beck