We had a Blitz tournament to kill time before the festivities, and although there were no prizes it was hard-fought. A deserving winner, with 100%, was Mikael Rolvag from Norway, a frequent visitor to The Stag Inn folk music sessions along with arbiter Lara Barnes.
| Rank | Title | Name | Rating | Federation | Points |
| 1 | Mikael Rolvag | 2148 | NOR | 6 | |
| 2 | CM | Dev Shah | 1877 | IND | 4 |
| Chris Howell | 2006 | ENG | 4 | ||
| 4 | Pal Royset | 2074 | NOR | 3½ | |
| Aditya Munshi | 1775 | ENG | 3½ | ||
| 6 | AIM | Andreas Larsen | 1907 | NOR | 3 |
| Thomas Thorpe | 1906 | WLS | 3 | ||
| Paul Kelly | 1904 | WLS | 3 | ||
| Mike Cresswell | 1706 | ENG | 3 | ||
| 10 | Daniel August | 2056 | GER | 2½ | |
| Viktor Stoyanov | 1950 | ENG | 2½ | ||
| 12 | Boris Stoyanov | 1290 | FID | 2 | |
| 13 | FM | Adam C Taylor | 2077 | ENG | 1 |
| Oliver Howell | 1538 | ENG | 1 |
Quiz
5 teams took part in a hastily designed quiz (suggested by Holger Witt – who didn’t come!) formed from 2-5 players. The questions on The Laws of Chess were considered the hardest and even an arbiter or two got some wrong (guess who!)
The winners with 40/64 were Team Norway (Which also included a Dane!) comprised of Mikael ROLVAG, Harvard RAMSTAD, Pal ROYSET, Andreas LARSEN and Jens KRISTIANSEN
The White Rock were fantastic hosts, providing snacks, mince pies and champagne to see in the New Year for everyone!
Try the quiz for yourself here