With John Wheeler stepping down as Hampshire Chess Secretary this year this meant we required a new Controller for the Congress. After a few missteps in the end this was a dual effort by Peter Eales and myself. Although pre tournament Gillian Moore had continued to be the co-ordinator, ensuring all players were registered and answering any questions. The main aim was to ensure that the Congress ran smoothly and to change the Open to FIDE rated (as well as ECF), to encourage more entries into this section. This was after only having eight entrants last year, despite an increase in numbers to the Congress in total. This article is on the Open section of the congress. I hope to produce one for the Major and Minor in the future.
Contents
HCA Open
The Hampshire Congress incorporating the Hampshire Individual Chess Championship was held at Lysess Hotel in Fareham 3rd November to 5th November 2023. The open only had 8 entries in 2022, and to try to remedy this we went through the process of making the top section FIDE rated (in addition to ECF). Luckily our normal arbiter is level 3, which is required for the tournament to be FIDE rated, there were a few other hurdles which needed to be overcome, and many thanks to the ECF with help in this process.
We hope to continue this next year as it certainly helped even the numbers out in each section. With 92 original entries in the Congress we had to add players to a wait list, as we did not want to make the rooms too crowded. We probably could have squeezed in 100, but it seemed sensible to ensure we had no issues with numbers. It was great to see an entry from Guernsey with Matthew Kirk flying over to enjoy the congress. He was lucky that the awful storms which caused Guernsey to close the previous two days subsided, and he was able to travel. We hope Matthew considers playing next year as well.
This year we managed to use DGT clocks on all boards, although we kept to the normal time control of 100 minutes + 20 minutes quickplay finish. Having four hour playing sessions makes for a long day, but in my view a long playing control is preferable to some of the faster ones, which are becoming the norm. We may look to amend going forward, but have to be careful with the total amount of playing time in one day, as 12 hours is the maximum. Six rounds is my preference and this would be challenging with longer incremental time being used.
We also took advantage of the ECF LMS system, to allow people to follow the results as the round were played, and this was also used to pass the results to the ECF for rating. This system is free to use for ECF tournaments, leagues and clubs and I highly recommend it. We had a few small hiccups with mis keyed results, but these were quickly rectified.
For a list of the winners of the Hampshire Individual Championship and links to any articles I have written the table on the Hampshire Individual Championship is the best place to look. In addition, the table on the Hampshire Tournaments will detail these and any other tournament articles I have completed. Both of these are available from the menu at the top of the site as well.
Round 1
With 26 entries the Open had more than three times the entries than the previous year, but the FIDE rated Open may have worked against us in attracting some strong players. With the current position that a number of players FIDE ratings being much lower than their ECF counterpart, it would be a struggle for highly rated FIDE players to not lose points in the tournament. It may be that some ECF ratings are too high, but there are a huge number of players whose FIDE ratings are much too low. Hopefully this is something which FIDE will address, or it naturally works itself out in the next couple of years.
The top rated ECF players were last year’s Hampshire Individual Champion, Iwan Cave (2212), long time entrant David Pye (2141) and Max Walker (2087). Some of the entrants have been playing in this tournament for a long time, Gillian Moore played in 1964 and Joe Coburn 1973.
We pick up Iwan’s game against Joe Coburn 25 moves into a King’s Indian where Iwan played the complicated Nxg5.
Most of the other higher seeded players also won but Max Walker was held to a draw by 14 year old Aleksandrs Karasevics although I could not make out all the moves to include this in the article.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iwan Cave | 2212 | 1 | Joseph A Coburn | 1859 | 0 |
| Martin J Clancy | 1809 | 0 | David E Pye | 2141 | 1 |
| Max Walker | 2087 | ½ | Aleksandrs Karasevics | 1798 | ½ |
| Ayan Pradhan | 1795 | 0 | Peter Hasson | 2077 | 1 |
| Tom Bird | 2026 | 1 | Niclas Hordnes | 1777 | 0 |
| John Moore | u | ½ | Thomas R Anderson | 1894 | ½ |
| Finn Schell | 1916 | 1 | Matthew Kirk | u | 0 |
| Neil Crosswell | 1752 | 0 | David A Cordner | 1949 | 1 |
| Matthew Deacon | 1893 | 1 | Hugo Melling | 1717 | 0 |
| Colin B Knight | 1710 | 0 | Paul Northcott | 1891 | 1 |
| Abhishek Pradhan | 1884 | 1 | Gillian A Moore | 1702 | 0 |
| Florence Spirling | 1624 | ½ | Richard Thorburn | 1871 | ½ |
| Roger DW Marsh | 1940 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ||
| Kai Sandbrink | 1870 | ½ | Half Point Bye |
I have used Chessbase to create the game files, you should be able to see all unannotated games below, moving between them using the various options. Any issues let me know.
Round 2
In the game on top board Iwan playing Black had a combination which won a pawn and then managed to swop his f pawn for David’s b pawn which game him two connected passed pawns. This proved more than enough for David to resign.
David Pye played Dorset’s talented junior Finn Schell. In a level position Finn mixed things up with a combination, but there was a sting in the tail with Black’s Knight being trapped on a5.
On the other boards Petter Hasson vs Abhishek Pradhan went the distance, with a draw agreed when Peter had under 20 seconds left (these games have no increment). Peter may have had the better position at this time, but there was no way he was not going to lose on time.
Going into round three there were only two players on maximum points, which meant a clash between David Pye and Iwan Cave was on the cards.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David A Cordner | 1949 | 0 | Iwan Cave | 2212 | 1 |
| David E Pye | 2141 | 1 | Finn Schell | 1916 | 0 |
| Peter Hasson | 2077 | ½ | Abhishek Pradhan | 1884 | ½ |
| Paul Northcott | 1891 | ½ | Tom Bird | 2026 | ½ |
| Richard Thorburn | 1871 | 0 | Max Walker | 2087 | 1 |
| Thomas R Anderson | 1894 | 1 | Matthew Deacon | 1893 | 0 |
| Roger DW Marsh | 1940 | 1 | Florence Spirling | 1624 | 0 |
| Aleksandrs Karasevics | 1798 | 0 | Kai Sandbrink | 1870 | 1 |
| Niclas Hordnes | 1777 | ½ | John Moore | u | ½ |
| Matthew Kirk | u | 0 | Martin J Clancy | 1809 | 1 |
| Hugo Melling | 1717 | 0 | Ayan Pradhan | 1795 | 1 |
| Gillian A Moore | 1702 | ½ | Neil Crosswell | 1752 | ½ |
| Joseph A Coburn | 1859 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ||
| Colin B Knight | 1710 | 1 | Full Point Bye |
Round 3
The key game for round three was Iwan Cave vs David Pye. This was a repeat of last year’s round three although this time Iwan had White and was also 200 points higher rated than last year (juniors improve quickly). Last year David won in a Nimzowitsch defence, an open which both players have used in the past. This year Iwan opened with d4, Iwan has expanded his openings and seems to play d4, e4, c4 and Nf3 (and probably others 1st moves as well) which makes him difficult to prepare against. This is an excellent trait, which becomes increasingly difficult to do as you get older, as can be seen from my own limited openings.
David chose to plan Nc6 against d4 and the game soon went into an unusual territory although White built up a space advantage.
On board two Paul Northcott took on Max Walker and as well as being successful in beating one of the top seeds, this game also won the John Dunleavy Best Game prize. There were a lot of entries this year for the prize which is great to see, although a few may have needed to be looked at a bit more closely before submitting! But Paul’s game was a worthy winner, including a Bishop and then a Queen sacrifice to open up White’s position.
Another game took my eye, in a tactical French Defence, Dorset junior Finn Schell came out on top against John Moore.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iwan Cave | 2212 | 1 | David E Pye | 2141 | 0 |
| Max Walker | 2087 | 0 | Paul Northcott | 1891 | 1 |
| Kai Sandbrink | 1870 | ½ | Peter Hasson | 2077 | ½ |
| Abhishek Pradhan | 1884 | ½ | Roger DW Marsh | 1940 | ½ |
| Martin J Clancy | 1809 | ½ | David A Cordner | 1949 | ½ |
| Tom Bird | 2026 | ½ | Thomas R Anderson | 1894 | ½ |
| Finn Schell | 1916 | 1 | John Moore | u | 0 |
| Matthew Deacon | 1893 | ½ | Colin B Knight | 1710 | ½ |
| Ayan Pradhan | 1795 | 0 | Aleksandrs Karasevics | 1798 | 1 |
| Neil Crosswell | 1752 | 0 | Richard Thorburn | 1871 | 1 |
| Joseph A Coburn | 1859 | 1 | Gillian A Moore | 1702 | 0 |
| Florence Spirling | 1624 | ½ | Niclas Hordnes | 1777 | ½ |
| Hugo Melling | 1717 | ½ | Matthew Kirk | u | ½ |
Round 4
The Saturday evening round normally sees a number of players taking a bye, and although this was the same this year, there were still 14 players who decided to play in this round.
Iwan Cave was playing Roger Marsh who had travelled from Scotland for the Congress, although Roger has played in the Southampton and Portsmouth Leagues for many years, before moving a couple of years ago. Roger would also normally complete the ECF rating, but this year we saved him the job by using LMS to do this task.
A draw was agreed in the position below, with Roger’s Knight looking dominant, although I was surprised that the computer thinks Black is better due to White’s weak light squares. Iwan knew at this stage that he would have the best tie-break for the Hampshire Individual title, and this looks to have been a sensible decision, not to overpush in the final position.
Meanwhile Tom Bird and Finn Schell closed the gap on Iwan by winning their games. In Tom’s game we pick up the position on move 38, when he had an advantage, although White was certainly not lost. But one misstep and Tom won quickly.
Finn Schell who is under 16 was playing another junior Kai Sandbrink, who is originally from Switzerland. The game was very close, with White a pawn to the good, but with Black having the two bishops the position was probably level. But just before the time control, Kai allowed a nice tactic which Finn spotted, this won a piece initially, and soon after the game.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roger DW Marsh | 1940 | ½ | Iwan Cave | 2212 | ½ |
| Abhishek Pradhan | 1884 | 0 | Tom Bird | 2026 | ½ |
| Kai Sandbrink | 1870 | 0 | Finn Schell | 1916 | 1 |
| Richard Thorburn | 1871 | ½ | Knight, Colin B | 1710 | ½ |
| Aleksandrs Karasevics | 1798 | 1 | Coburn, Joseph A | 1859 | 0 |
| John Moore | u | 0 | Ayan Pradhan | 1795 | 1 |
| Niclas Hordnes | 1777 | ½ | Matthew Kirk | u | ½ |
| David E Pye | 2141 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Max Walker | 2087 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Peter Hasson | 2077 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| David A Cordner | 1949 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Thomas R Anderson | 1894 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Matthew Deacon | 1893 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Paul Northcott | 1891 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Martin J Clancy | 1809 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Neil Crosswell | 1752 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Hugo Melling | 1717 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Gillian A Moore | 1702 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Florence Spirling | 1624 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ |
Round 5
Sunday morning saw the leader board look as below, with Iwan half a point ahead of Tom Bird, Paul Northcott and Finn Schell.
Open Round 4 Table
| Name | Score |
|---|---|
| Iwan Cave | 3½ |
| Tom Bird | 3 |
| Paul Northcott | 3 |
| Finn Schell | 3 |
Iwan was playing Tom Bird who had won the Castle Chess 2023 Fareham Congress which was held in the same venue in October with 5½ out of 6, with the half point being a bye in the first round. He had also beaten Iwan in that tournament, and therefore this would be a tough game for both players.
The game ended in a 24 move draw, but Tom seems to have missed a chance on move 19, which would have given a Black a much better game. I have to apologise for using a computer to spot these missed chances, although it makes it much easier to analyse the game, it does not reflect correctly on the actual quality of the games played.
This draw opened the window for either Paul Northcott or Finn Schell to draw level. Paul, playing White went for an early f4 against the Caro-Kann, but when he took Black’s Knight on f6, Black’s position was much easier to play.
Although there was no obvious win in the middle game, White always seemed to have to be on the lookout for moves which were blunders. At the end the Queen and Knight ending with 6 pawns each looked even, but this was not the case, with White having numerous weak pawns and Black’s King was safely stuck away on g7 protected by his pawns.
Moving the knight to c2 on move 32 allowed one of the tactics, where Black could just take the Knight due to Knight fork which would follow if White captured with the Queen.
Tom Anderson is a previous Hampshire Champion and was paired against junior Kai Sandbrink. Tom looked to have a healthy advantage but these juniors are sneaky and with a few inaccurate moves Tom’s position collapsed. Tom has suffered from some ill health in the last few years and it is great to see him back playing more chess, and he seems to be playing as strongly as ever, scoring well in Open tournaments.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iwan Cave | 2212 | ½ | Bird, Tom | 2026 | ½ |
| Paul Northcott | 1891 | 0 | Schell, Finn | 1916 | 1 |
| David E Pye | 2141 | 1 | Marsh, Roger DW | 1940 | 0 |
| Peter Hasson | 2077 | 1 | Karasevics, Aleksandrs | 1798 | 0 |
| Thomas R Anderson | 1894 | 0 | Sandbrink, Kai | 1870 | 1 |
| David A Cordner | 1949 | ½ | Thorburn, Richard | 1871 | ½ |
| Ayan Pradhan | 1795 | ½ | Deacon, Matthew | 1893 | ½ |
| Colin B Knight | 1710 | ½ | Pradhan, Abhishek | 1884 | ½ |
| Joseph A Coburn | 1859 | 0 | Hordnes, Niclas | 1777 | 1 |
| Gillian A Moore | 1702 | 0 | Spirling, Florence | 1624 | 1 |
| Matthew Kirk | u | ½ | Crosswell, Neil | 1752 | ½ |
| John Moore | u | ½ | Melling, Hugo | 1717 | ½ |
| Martin J Clancy | 1809 | 1 | Full Point Bye | 0 | |
| Max Walker | 2087 | 0 | Default | 1 |
Round 6
The Open tournament is really split into two objectives for the top Hampshire players. Winning the Open and winning the Hampshire Individual Chess Championship. For most Hampshire players the latter is probably more important than the former, as they get to hold the iconic Silver Rook Trophy and go on the list of Hampshire Chess Champions. They join the list of previous champions from the first winner in 1930 Frank Elwell (champion 5 times), Wilf Pratten (4 times), Marshall Thompson (9 times), Gerald Bennett (2 times), Keith Gregory (5 times) and Tony Corkett (10 times) as well as others.
From speaking to Iwan, after winning the trophy last year this was his main objective this year, and he knew that the tie-break was in his favour against Tom Bird (Finn Schell was not eligible as a Dorset player). His main objective was to not lose, and he duly managed this with a 25 move draw, playing the Petroff as Black. This means at the age of 16 Iwan is a Hampshire Individual Chess Champion twice over. It is still a long way to go to reach Tony Corkett’s 10 wins, but maybe Tony will consider playing again to try and extend his lead! This was a great year for Iwan, as he also represented Wales in the Under 18 World Youth Chess Championship.
This meant Iwan and Finn had scored 4½ points, but other players could still catch them by winning their final round games. This was also an excellent result by Finn, tying for 1st place in his first ever Hampshire Open Congress.
Tom Bird had a tough task ahead of himself against David Pye. As the time control loomed the position was extremely tricky, although the computer has it level. But one misstep is all it takes, and David was the first to do this, allowing a pretty checkmate finish. This meant Tom joined the other two, and also won the Under 2015 Len Walters Trophy as his rating was below this in September when the cut-off is made.
The other player who also managed to score 4½ points was Peter Hasson who beat Paul Northcott when his two Bishops proved too strong, finally winning a piece.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finn Schell | 1916 | ½ | Iwan Cave | 2212 | ½ |
| Tom Bird | 2026 | 1 | David E Pye | 2141 | 0 |
| Paul Northcott | 1891 | 0 | Peter Hasson | 2077 | 1 |
| Kai Sandbrink | 1870 | ½ | Martin J Clancy | 1809 | ½ |
| Niclas Hordnes | 1777 | 0 | David A Cordner | 1949 | 1 |
| Florence Spirling | 1624 | ½ | Thomas R Anderson | 1894 | ½ |
| Roger DW Marsh | 1940 | 0 | Colin B Knight | 1710 | 1 |
| Matthew Deacon | 1893 | 0 | Abhishek Pradhan | 1884 | 1 |
| Richard Thorburn | 1871 | 1 | Ayan Pradhan | 1795 | 0 |
| Aleksandrs Karasevics | 1798 | 1 | John Moore | u | 0 |
| Neil Crosswell | 1752 | 0 | Joseph A Coburn | 1859 | 1 |
| Hugo Melling | 1717 | 1 | Gillian A Moore | 1702 | 0 |
| Matthew Kirk | u | 1 | Full Point Bye | 0 |
Final Table
The final table is below, but additional details are also on the LMS system.
- Four players tied for 1st place, with Iwan Cave winning the Silver Rook on tie-break from Tom Bird. Finn Schell and Peter Hasson were not eligible for the Hampshire trophies.
- Tom Bird won the Len Walter Trophy for best Under 2015 performance
- Under-2015 Grading Prize (3½ pts) Richard Thorburn (So’ton Uni), Abhishek Pradhan (Reading), Colin Knight (Basingstoke), David Cordner (Southampton), Kai Sandbrink (Oxford University), Aleksandrs Karasevics (Southampton), Martin Clancy (Ringwood).
| No. | Name | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iwan Cave | 1 (w21) | 1 (b8) | 1 (w12) | ½ (b16) | ½ (w4) | ½ (b2) | 4½ |
| 2 | Finn Schell | 1 (w17) | 0 (b12) | 1 (w25) | 1 (b9) | 1 (b15) | ½ (w1) | 4½ |
| 3 | Peter Hasson | 1 (b20) | ½ (w6) | ½ (b9) | ½ (w ) | 1 (w10) | 1 (b15) | 4½ |
| 4 | Tom Bird | 1 (w22) | ½ (b15) | ½ (w13) | 1 (b6) | ½ (b1) | 1 (w12) | 4½ |
| 5 | Richard Thorburn | ½ (b14) | 0 (w23) | 1 (b24) | ½ (w7) | ½ (b8) | 1 (w20) | 3½ |
| 6 | Abhishek Pradhan | 1 (w26) | ½ (b3) | ½ (w16) | 0 (w4) | ½ (b7) | 1 (b19) | 3½ |
| 7 | Colin B Knight | 0 (w15) | 1 (w ) | ½ (b19) | ½ (b5) | ½ (w6) | 1 (b16) | 3½ |
| 8 | David A Cordner | 1 (b24) | 0 (w1) | ½ (b11) | ½ (w ) | ½ (w5) | 1 (b22) | 3½ |
| 9 | Kai Sandbrink | ½ (w ) | 1 (b10) | ½ (w3) | 0 (w2) | 1 (b13) | ½ (w11) | 3½ |
| 10 | Aleksandrs Karasevics | ½ (b23) | 0 (w9) | 1 (b20) | 1 (w21) | 0 (b3) | 1 (w25) | 3½ |
| 11 | Martin J Clancy | 0 (w12) | 1 (b17) | ½ (w8) | ½ (w ) | 1 (w ) | ½ (b9) | 3½ |
| 12 | David E Pye | 1 (b11) | 1 (w2) | 0 (b1) | ½ (w ) | 1 (w16) | 0 (b4) | 3½ |
| 13 | Thomas R Anderson | ½ (b25) | 1 (w19) | ½ (b4) | ½ (w ) | 0 (w9) | ½ (b14) | 3 |
| 14 | Florence Spirling | ½ (w5) | 0 (b16) | ½ (w22) | ½ (w ) | 1 (b26) | ½ (w13) | 3 |
| 15 | Paul Northcott | 1 (b7) | ½ (w4) | 1 (b23) | ½ (w ) | 0 (w2) | 0 (w3) | 3 |
| 16 | Roger DW Marsh | ½ (w ) | 1 (w14) | ½ (b6) | ½ (w1) | 0 (b12) | 0 (w7) | 2½ |
| 17 | Matthew Kirk | 0 (b2) | 0 (w11) | ½ (b18) | ½ (b22) | ½ (w24) | 1 (w ) | 2½ |
| 18 | Hugo Melling | 0 (b19) | 0 (w20) | ½ (w17) | ½ (w ) | ½ (b25) | 1 (w26) | 2½ |
| 19 | Matthew Deacon | 1 (w18) | 0 (b13) | ½ (w7) | ½ (w ) | ½ (b20) | 0 (w6) | 2½ |
| 20 | Ayan Pradhan | 0 (w3) | 1 (b18) | 0 (w10) | 1 (b25) | ½ (w19) | 0 (b5) | 2½ |
| 21 | Joseph A Coburn | 0 (b1) | ½ (w ) | 1 (w26) | 0 (b10) | 0 (w22) | 1 (b24) | 2½ |
| 22 | Niclas Hordnes | 0 (b4) | ½ (w25) | ½ (b14) | ½ (w17) | 1 (b21) | 0 (w8) | 2½ |
| 23 | Max Walker | ½ (w10) | 1 (b5) | 0 (w15) | ½ (w ) | 0 (w ) | – ( ) | 2 |
| 24 | Neil Crosswell | 0 (w8) | ½ (b26) | 0 (w5) | ½ (w ) | ½ (b17) | 0 (w21) | 1½ |
| 25 | John Moore | ½ (w13) | ½ (b22) | 0 (b2) | 0 (w20) | ½ (w18) | 0 (b10) | 1½ |
| 26 | Gillian A Moore | 0 (b6) | ½ (w24) | 0 (b21) | ½ (w ) | 0 (w14) | 0 (b18) | 1 |
Games
The games I have from the rounds are detailed after each round, but in totality can be found here as well as a pgn file (have to add as a text file and you may need to amend to a pgn prefix?).
Summary
This was a big change for the HCA, it is easy to forget the behind the scenes work done by the organisers. As a player in the congress for many years I certainly did not appreciate the work competed by John Wheeler and Gillian Moore in the preparation and running of the congress. Gillian continued with her fantastic organisation pre congress and I helped where necessary. It was important to us that Gillian was able to play in the tournament and to not have to make decisions whilst it was being played.
John left clear instructions on the tournament and I lent on him heavily pre tournament to ensure everything ran as smoothly as possible. There will always be small issues, but on the whole we managed these well. Peter Eales had offered to help with the running of the tournament and both of us were there to assist with any queries, hotel liaison and all the admin work required for a congress. This included, adding results to LMS, ensuring the coffee, tea and soft drinks did not run out (these were supplied free this year), resetting the boards, clocks and removing rubbish and bringing back the cups to the Organiser’s room for the Hotel to collect. A tip for any players who play in a tournament, it really helps the organiser if you bring your cup back to the organiser room and find a bin for any rubbish! There is no magic fairy that does this in between rounds…
I was originally a bit blasé about Peter Eales offering to help run the tournament, this was a huge mistake and it required both of us to keep on top of everything, there are a few quiet periods in a congress, but these are few and far between! The final round with the prize giving (working out the winners) was a stressful time for us and is something we will look to tweak next year. That said we were very happy with the Congress and both came away with many positive comments from players, which was very welcome
A huge thanks for all the players and committee members who helped set up everything pre and post tournament. 50 boards and clocks, moving tables to make sure they were evenly spaced, wall charts and crosstables as well as loading everything into cars at the end. Fraser McLeod was not playing, but helped in setting up and dismantling which was much appreciated. Iwan Cave kept his mother waiting whilst he assisted at the end, there are not many players who have won the main tournament who will hang around to do this! There were too many others to mention who also helped, but just to say this help was appreciated. My Wife, Jane was invaluable, completing the wall charts and pairing cards pre Congress and also not complaining when I said I was staying at the Hotel for the weekend, rather than completing a 60 mile round trip each day. This proved even more worthwhile when the New Forest had no water for the weekend. I had all the facilities of a Hotel, whilst Jane was struggling with no water in the house! When I returned on Sunday night, the water was back on!
We were very lucky to have Kevin Thurlow as our Chief Arbiter again this year (he has completed this for many years). Kevin has a very laid back style, but is quick to step in with time penalties and to resolve issues when they occur. This light but no messing style really suits our congress. 99% of the tournament runs with no issues, but if something needs sorting it should be done quickly and fairly, which was the case. Unfortunately for us this was Kevin’s last year as an Arbiter and we felt privileged that Kevin chose the HCA Congress as his last one as an arbiter. We are hoping he will be back next year, but as a player this time!
As to the tournament, we were very happy with the numbers, the smooth running and the fact that it was FIDE Rated. The HCA Committee will discuss any changes and we will have a new arbiter next year, but please do pencil in the date of 1st to 3rd November 2024.
Finally, if anyone has anything they wish to add about their experience at the HCA Congress, or wishes to supply an annotated game please do contact me, or add to the comments on this page (I can then email you directly).
Photographs
All photographs are in the Hampshire Gallery, but I have included a few from the Open and the obligatory picture of the trophies.
HCA Vice President Report
The Hampshire Vice President produced a press release on the congress, which is below.
Acknowledgements and sources:
- Peter Eales for HCA Press Release
- Peter Eales and Martin Simons for photographs
- Hampshire Chess Website for Best Game information
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