There is now a new European Blitz as well as a Rapid Champion and it’s not Gawain. The rapid started well with 5/5 and a win over Rublevsky but a combination of things started to happen and things went wrong. Gawain should be very happy and proud of his performance in Warsaw especially just playing the day after an open. A combination of fatigue and lack of preparationg (one should always be prepared) meant things didn’t go as planned. I can’t see anywhere to download the games but perhaps they will be in the next TWIC. Congratulations to Zoltan Almasi who topped the field in the rapid with 10.5/13 with several other GMs but beat Gashimov in the tie break for 1st place. GM Maxime Vacher-Lagrave won the Blitz with 22/26. Hopefully next year England will be represented with a strong following!
Gawain at the moment is at Warsaw airport awaiting the departure of his flight. I’m not sure why the communication with the controllers (or whoever) the workforce on the ground and the passengers is sporadic at best. If the flight is/will be cancelled wouldn’t it be in people’s interest to know and be able to make other arrangements (airport floors aren’t that comfortable). I know everyone is trying their best, so I would like to say thank you to all those people working hard to clear the ice so everyone can make it to their final destination.