Carlos wins Winter League

In an exciting and tense play-off Carlos da Silva eventually clinched his first Winter League title at about 11.30 at night, beating top-seed Pete Morriss 2½ – 1½. The format was two games at 25 minutes + 15 seconds increment; if these did not produce a winner, then two games at 15 minutes + 10 seconds, followed, if necessary, by pairs of games at ever faster time rates. The first three games were all decisive, and strangely the player with the black pieces won them all. In the fourth game, Pete, as black, eventually got down to a rook v pawn endgame. Subsequent checking with tablebases suggests that there was one (and only one) way for black to win, but Pete did not find it and the game ended in a draw. So Carlos is our new champion, and a very worthy one.

Final Standings:

[table id=30 /]