Richard Hardy showed his all-round ability by winning the second York Lightning championship with maximum points.

Lightning is an exceptionally difficult form of chess where players take it in turns to move on a buzzer that sounds every ten seconds.

Paul Hopwood was second on a tiebreak with 4 points with David Findlay third.

Meanwhile, all the York RI teams were involved in some tight and tense matches in their latest Yorkshire Chess Association games.

In the Woodhouse Cup, York RI 'A' fielded a strong line-up, only to see Bradford 'A' turn up with a powerful side to ensure a hard-fought match ended 4-4.

David Adams won the final game on the top board, and under pressure from the clock, secured the draw.

York's only other winner was Steve Huxley, with draws from Norman Stephenson, Detlef Plump, Tony Slinger and Paul Hopwood.

York RI 'B' lost their crunch relegation tie at Wakefield 'A' 4-3.

Fine wins for Aaron Barker and Eric Key, plus draws for Paul Johnson and Patrick Gower, just weren't enough and York now have to beat one of the division's better teams in order to avoid relegation.

In the Silver Rook both York RI 'C' and 'D' teams were involved in two matches that didn't contain a single draw.

RI 'C' fought out a tough draw with St Vincents in the crucial top of the table clash.

The top four boards of Richard Hardy, Martin Carpenter, David Findlay and Eric Winn did the damage.

RI 'D' played out an equally hard draw with Calderdale 'C', with wins from Herbert Lockwood, Fahad Yousif, Graham Marshall and Bill Fulton.

The draw for the next round of the club championships is:

Jim Shemilt v Jon Griffith, Patrick Gower v Barry Taylor, Paul Barber v Barry Marshall, Tom Anderson v Tim Turner, Norman Finburg v Steve Huxley, John Lafferty v John Bennett, Neville Pearce v Herbert Lockwood, Fahad Yousif v Bill Fulton, Katyy Smowton v Paul Brookes, Aaron Barker v Richard Hardy, Rodney Mitchinson v Owen Robson, Sid Kirby v John Wynne, Paul Masiak v Craig Thompson, Richard Allis, Chris Conlin, Jonathon Burr v Roger Hall, Kevin Holiday v Sean Hanson.

Updated: 10:16 Thursday, March 06, 2003