Chess WITH THE KNIGHT
A SIGNIFICANT chess event took place over the weekend at Forest Hall Chess Club...a FIDE-rated chess congress. FIDE. is the governing body for world chess and sets demanding standards for any congress, including their name in the title and publicity. The term congress is the word generally used to describe a gathering of people to play chess .For it to be described as FIDE-rated, the playing conditions must be of high quality.
Here considerable credit and thanks must go to the Forest Hall Ex-Servicemen’s Club, which allowed the organisers to have exclusive use of their excellent concert room as the playing arena and a separate room for analysis and relaxation. This enabled the tables to be spread out and therefore minimise the distraction which can be caused by the activity on nearby boards. This same room is regularly used for high-quality musical and charity events well worth watching out for.
A second key ingredient is a good arbiter who referees the matches, organises the pairings in each round, records the results and resolves any disputes that may arise. Brian Toward (South Shields Chess Club) conducted all of these tasks brilliantly with a calm and quiet authority.
Thirdly, to initiate the event, attract people – especially titled players to elevate the status of the competition – and to ensure all of the wide and varied elements of a successful congress come together, there is the need for a good leader and administrator. Tim Wall FM was the person who fulfilled this role. From the outset he was the prime mover and continued to be during the ups and downs of the preparation and execution of the congress. He deserves everyone’s congratulations.
Lastly, there have to be participants, and in sufficient numbers to make it work. And this was achieved. Numbers were at the lower end of the acceptable scale but easily enough to host a brilliant event. And they were a quality group, both in terms of playing ability and sportsmanship. It will be worth examining the scheduling of the congress for the future with the hope of expanding the numbers, but as a first attempt it went exceptionally well. The feedback from attendees has been very positive. So to the results. OPEN (scores out of 5) Winner: Danny Gormally GM ( Blackthorne Russia), 4pts
Runner-up: Tim Wall FM (Forest Hall), 3.5pts
Grading prize: Stuart Skelsey (Forest Hall), 3pts MAJOR Winner: David Hall (Scotland), 4.5 pts Runner-up: Stephen Omerod ( Darlington) 4pts
Grading prize: Ian Mackay (Carlisle Austin Friars), 3pts CHALLENGERS Winner: William Metcalfe (Darlington) 4.5pts Runner-up: Jeff Baird (Forest Hall), 4pts Grading prize: Anthony Neville (Gosforth), 3.5pts
Well done to all the players who contributed to a very pleasing and worthwhile competition. Lastly, many thanks to two generous sponsors, who wish to remain anonymous but enabled the event to break even.