Australian Lightning Championship

Lightning is a young man's  game if this tournament is anything to go by. Moulthun Ly won with 9.5 out of 11, a full point ahead of the field . A truly amazing performance. Here he is playing the other "lightning monster" Bobby Cheng who spent most of the tournament on or near board 1. The score table can be found here

The only Senior player seen on the top boards all tournament was ever youthful Steven Solomon. He ended up 12th.

Martin Jack represented the Gold Coast proudly and will be a force to reckon with in a few years I imagine.

Gene Nakauchi, also from the Gold coast finished on a very good 6.5 points. 

Sally Yu giving Akshat Khamparia the stare. Chess Legend Doug Hamilton was beating up some kid on the top row in the background.

The only senior player to finish in the top 10 was IM Leonid Sandler. He showed that organising does not affect your blitz skills. Next to him is chess legend Richard Voon who regular readers will remember is also a fine cook. I have known Richard since I started playing chess and his scalps include GM Ian Rogers, IM Greg Hjorth and myself...several times.

At 73 years of age he still plays in every tournament he can and can never get too much chess. When his game is finished he can be found analyzing, blitzing or spectating. He is also a trendsetter. 

Is my FBB (facebook buddy) James Morris wearing the same hat or do they own one each?

Here Doug Hamilton is beating up a more senior player. He does not discriminate.

Zong Yuan Zhao who is normally a deadly blitz player was not showing his best. I imagine his academic career must be eating away at his training time. Smart move!

Leteisha Simmonds is Queensland's Junior girls hope and hails from Brisbane. She led the Somerville house girls team to the national interschools title in Sydney in December.

I didn't play because I felt I needed a rest but as soon as the games started I wished I was playing. Instead I put on my journalist hat and hung around anyway! Also not many pictures turned out very well. I definitely need a proper camera.