30 October 2019
There are two LCA competitions for individual players, whether they have a club allegiance or not – the Ellis Trophy for the toffs and the Appleby Trophy for the plebs.
Limewood this year has a bumper turnout – 3 in the Ellis and 6 in the Appleby.
Up in the Ellis, played at Rose Forgrove’s bunker, were Paul May, Siefaldin Holi (generally known as Holi) and John Grasham. Sadly, under the quirks of the Swiss system, Paul and John were drawn against each other, limiting the number of winners we could have on the night. Those winners turned out to be Paul and Holi. But it’s not a knock-out competition so John lives on to fight the next round, when he can be assured of not playing against a clubmate.
Down in the Appleby at Alwoodley our top 5 graders were outgraded by an average of 24 points each, so it wasn’t surprising that they came away with a rather thin result. Only Phil Higgins managed to buck the odds and achieve a win.
Our remaining player, Paul Smith, also scored. He was playing a newcomer and unknown quantity (therefore ungraded) from Ilkley Club. Paul gained a draw – he’s getting an impressive collection of them.