The full list of winners:
1st in Open: John Stuart Plant 7.5/9
2nd in Open: Fred Flatow, Arthur Huynh, Daniel Melamed, Bruce Urdanegui. 7/9
1st U1800: Srijan Badam, Ted Power. 5.5/9
1st U1500: Maan Beydoun, Ali Murtazaev. 5/9.
1st Unrated: Anthony Andreas 5.5/9
2023 November Lightning: come-from-behind win for John-Stuart Plant
John-Stuart Plant, 1st in the Open division
In a night of dramatic sports matches, John-Stuart Plant pulled off a Glenn Maxwell-like win, after trailing leaders Daniel Melamed and Fred Flatow at the start of the final round. He won, they didn’t, and JSP emerged the tournament champion with 7.5/9 points.
The full list of winners:
1st in Open: John Stuart Plant 7.5/9
2nd in Open: Fred Flatow, Arthur Huynh, Daniel Melamed, Bruce Urdanegui. 7/9
1st U1800: Srijan Badam, Ted Power. 5.5/9
1st U1500: Maan Beydoun, Ali Murtazaev. 5/9.
1st Unrated: Anthony Andreas 5.5/9
Forty players had turned up for the night, a great turn-out, with many returning to St George for the highly social night. Many participants had their photo taken with Fred Flatow, former Australian champion, and three times winner of the Doeberl Cup. Several players shared fond memories of being coached by Fred, including Lou Udovitch, who said his third place in the 1968 NSW Junior Lightning Championships would not have happened without Fred’s mentoring. One of Fred’s current pupils, Samuel Slingo has made great strides recently, and he scored three wins in the tournament. One could not help but be charmed by Fred’s humble manner – he even helped in setting up, and packing away, the boards and clocks. A true chess gentleman!