Chess WITH THE KNIGHT
IT’S always good to be able to report on brilliant successes, and this area certainly had one last weekend with the Norhumberland Chess Congress, held at the Parks Sports Centre, North Shields, over Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday.
What are the key ingredients that made it such a success? Firstly, you need a good venue and this facility is certainly that.
It has good parking, and is on many bus routes, making it very accessible. The playing area is excellent, with space for 120 players plus an area for the controllers and a chess book and equipment stall.
Secondly, you need a good management team. Mick Riding (Gosforth Chess Club) did a lot of the spadework with pre-tournament promotional material and by encouraging players to participate.
His prompts, reminders and positive commentary on the event were so effective that the entry had to be closed when the maximum capacity (120) had beeen reached. These included many local players but also a contingent from Scotland and others from Iceland, Greece and Zimbabwe.
Mick is already thinking about how a greater space can be found to enable even more players to take part next year. His efforts not only created the biggest ever entry for the tournament, but also ensured all costs would be covered and a surplus created to underwrite future promotions. The weekend event was
controlled by Lara Barnes and Alex MacFarlane, both nationally qualified arbiters, with considerable experience of managing big chess events, both in the UK and abroad.
Keeping the competitions moving forward is a key element to meeting the timetable. So at the end of each round, 60 new pairings had to be quickly identified, and the competitors had to find the right board and play with right coloured pieces...and they did, meeting the key definition of a success.
The controlllers are also responsible for resolving any disputes. A small number occur at most chess congresses and the speedy resolution of these prevents disruption to other people’s games. Lara and Alex, with a mass of experience in dealing with such incidents, ensured the atmosphere in the room met the high standards expected at high-quality congresses.
David Watson (Morpeth Chess) had a smaller but important role. He signed the cheques for the winners!
There were four separate sections.
The Open included six titled players. Two of them tied for first place, Gudmundur KJartansson (Iceland) and Andrew Horton (Durham), both international Masters, with 4 points. Third to sixth with 3.5 points were David Walker, FIDE Master (Leam Lane Chess Club), James Moreby (Gosforth CC), Yichen Han Candidate Master (Forest Hall CC) and David Henderson (Tynemouth CC).
The Major ended with a three-way tie for first place. Darren Laws (Tynemouth CC), Howard Turner (Lewisham CC) and Alexander Brodie (Forest Hall CC) tied on 4 points.
Another three-way tie for 4th to 6th place, all scoring 3.5 points, were Michael Ash (Scotland), Andy Trevelyan (Jesmond CC) and Stuart Skelsey (Forest Hall CC).
The Minor event had the biggest entry and had an outright winner, Morgan French, a rapidly improving junior from Forest Hall Chess Club, with 4.5 points. This is a brilliant result for Morgan, who was ranked 35th at the start.
Second equal were three players with 4 points; Paul Salisbury, Kevin Cox (Gateshead CC) and David Hill (Dagenham).
Just behind them scoring 3.5 points were Jack Erskine-Pereira (Gosforth CC), Nigel Morris (Coventry), Weiming Xu (Forest Hall CC) and Ian Chester.
Finally, the Foundation Tournament for relative newcomers to chess of all ages (the youngest entrant was aged six and eldest 78) was won by James McVey (Gosforth CC), with 7.5 points, followed by Luke Fletcher on 7 points and Matthew Jepson (Forest Hall CC) and Thomas Dobson on 6.5 points.
It was a brilliant event, excellently promoted and managed, and a competition contested with great sportsmanship and enthusiasm, indicative of the rising interest in the game locally and nationally.
If you’re reading this as an ex-player, a nonplayer or a dabbler and feel enthused, Google Northumberland Chess League, where you will find details of all the local clubs. With every club gaining new members you will be made welcome and given help to improve your game.