Keverel Chess

Posts Tagged ‘prizewinners’

At the start of the final round, there was a tie between the five top-rated players in the Premier Section, - Gormally, Arkell, Ledger, Mackle & Bates - all on 4.5/6. Any one of the 5 could win it outright, while other possibilities included double ties, triple ties or, if they all drew, a 5-way tie. The possibilities ran into double digits, and the only certainty was that would be no quick draws in this round.

The pairings were Arkell vs Mackle; Bates vs Gormally and McKenna vs Ledger. Arkell played an open game and managed at several points in the game to create small threats, forcing Mackle to exchange pieces, and it wasn’t long before an endgame was reached, an aspect of the game in which Arkell is an acknowledged master. With R+2 minor pieces each left on the board, Black at least had some activity, but he chose to exchange off the rooks, after which White had most of the attacking options and Mackle resigned. Arkell could relax as the leader in the clubhouse and watch the other three slug it out. He relaxed even more when Bates and Gormally agreed a draw. This left Ledger fighting for a win in order to share 1st prize. And strive he did as the game went on for hour after hour, finishing long after the room was empty of players. After 6 hours play, McKenna avoided a loss on time at the 2nd time control by seconds, and it went down to R vs R+P. The pawn was on the a-file, protected by K + R and far away from the White king, but McKenna managed to find just enough resources to prevent the queening, so a draw was agreed. Thus Arkell, the Paignton veteran, won his 20th 1st place in the 22 consecutive years he’s entered - doubly pleasing for him.

The second-to-last game to finish was Bd. 1 in the Challengers, where Mike Waddington, who had 6/6 points and had already won the section with a round to spare, was trying very hard to make it a clean sweep. But he was faced by the ever-steady Martin Page who had no intentions of falling in with his plans, and after many hours play, a draw was agreed. Although he failed in his bid for a 100% score, he finished with the highest score by any player in any section.

The full prize list was as follows.

NB: Grading prize winners do not quaify for a prize in a higher section, even though they might have a higher score.

The state of play after Rd. 6 in the Premier

The draw for the final round in the Premier.

Top board: Bates vs Gormally - destined for a draw.

Mackle starts White's clock - game on!

Final round draw for the Challengers.

Mike Waddington, who has already won the Challengers Section, wants to make it a perfect score but is faced by the redoubtable Martin Page.

So pleasant is the weather, post-game analysis can be held in the hotel gardens

With all play finishing by the Friday evening, the prizegiving ceremony took place promptly at 09.30 the next morning.

The Chairman of the Torbay Coucil, Cllr. Julien Parrott, and the Lib. Dem. MP for Torbay, Adrian Saunders, were in the platform party and both had encouraging words for the assembled audience, and after a few words from the ECF President, Roger Edwards, they handed out the many trophies beautifully arrayed on the front table.

As is traditional, the final words came from the newly-crowned British Champion, David Howell, who had secured the prize with a round to spare. The 22 year-old’s relaxed and modest demeanour throughout the fortnight and making this closing speech, a nerve-wracking prospect for most, was all the more remarkable for the full circumstances. His father, who had taught him the game since the age of 5 and worked hard to get him to many events both at home and abroad, died three months ago. and David, who is reading philosophy and English at Cardiff University, was allowed to defer his 2nd Year exams until the middle of August. This meant that while others were preparing like mad for their next opponent, David was having to prepare like mad for his exams, finishing assignments and revising. However, he did not let this side-track him, as he was determined to win for his father’s sake. The remarkable victory was dedicated to him.

David with proud Mum & sister.

Granny & Uncle wanted to be included - and why not - this one's for the family!

Sarah Hegarty was declared Ladies' Champion, seen here with all their glittering prizes.

If the main trophies seen here look especially sparkling, that’s because they are. Over recent years they have looked increasingly fragile and time-worn, but they have had a fundamental make-over; polishing, fixing bits from dropping off etc., with the result that’s all too plain to see.

Sara Hegarty, 1999 Girls' U-10 Champion, finally gets to the top of the tree.

Akshaya Kalaiyala tied with Sarah for the British Ladies Championship but missed the trophy on tie-break. However, her time will surely come.

Multiple prizewinner Akshaya Kalaiyala; U-12 Champion / U-18 Girls' Champion & English Womens' Champion (jt)

Mark Hebden; Grand Prix winners and 2nd= in the Championship.

4th= were (l-r) Lalic (checking the cheque is for the right amount - £250); Arkell, Wells, Zhou & Gormally.

Yang-fan Zhou - British U-21 Champion.

1st in the Major Open, Matthew Dignam recieves his prize/s.

Matthew Dignam with the Dundee Trophy and a bound copy of the 2012 BCM.

Stewart Reuben with the Boxall Salver for services to the Congress.

Joint winners of the Seniors' Championship; Paul Timson, Graham Chesters, David Friedgood & Roger Emerson.

Seniors' Ladies Champions (jt.) Dinah Norman & Gillian Moore, with a small piece of history - an actual trophy (the Gibraltar Cup).

The Paignton Congress has enjoyed some of the best weather of the summer which has put all players in a good mood. The favourite, Grandmaster Keith Arkell, won the Premier Section for the 18^th time in his career, after the predictable short, safe draw in the final round. But there were many other prizewinners all the way down the order.

Premier: 1^st K. Arkell 6/7 pts. 2^nd= R. Bates (Hackney); D. Ledger (Bedford) & D. Mackle (N. Abbot) all 5 pts.

Challengers: 1^st= C. Costello & A. Footner (Yeovil). 3^rd= R. Thompson (N. Abbot) & Y. Tello (Wimbledon). Grading prizes: U-162: T. F. Thynne (5). U-155: A. Price (Leamington) 4½.

Best slow starters: A. Hibbitt (Grendel) & Jackson (Coulsdon) both 3½.

The key game in Arkell’s campaign was this Rd. 6 win, which allowed him to coast home with a short draw in the final round to become clear 1^st and take home a cheque for £600. Notice how, as in Rd. 1 published last week, he makes full use of his bishop pair to force fatal weaknesses in Black’s position.

White: K. C. Arkell (234). Black: Zaki Harari. (193)

Queen’s Gambit Accepted. [D20]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Qxd4 White is happy to exchange queens early on, keeping things simple and knowing his endgame technique will probably win the day. 5…Qxd4 6.Nxd4 Nf6 7.Nc3 a6 8.Bxc4 Bb4 9.f3 0–0 10.Bf4 b5 11.Be2 c5 12.Nc2 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 Be6 14.Kf2 Nbd7 15.Rhc1 Nb6 16.Ne3 c4 17.Nc2 Na4 18.Nd4 Rac8 19.Bd1 Nc5 20.Bc2 Rfd8 21.Rd1 h6 22.Be3 Bd7 23.Rd2 Kf8 24.Rad1 Ke8 25.g4 Ng8 26.Nf5 Bxf5 27.gxf5 Rxd2+ 28.Rxd2 Nf6 29.e5 Nfd7 30.f4 Ke7 31.Kf3 Rc6 32.Rd1 making as if to move it to g1. 32…Rc7 33.Rd6 But no, the rook moves forward instead. 33…a5 34.a3 Rb7 35.Rc6 Nb3 36.Be4 Rb8 37.Bd5 a4 38.Rc7 Kd8 39.Ra7 f6 40.e6 1–0 The advanced pawn must win it.

Here is the full list of winners:-

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http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/HTML/games/current/paignton20127/base.htm

Saturday, 8th August 2009

Prizegiving

David Howell - New British Champion.

Three Wise Men - the joint seniors champions.

And now… a group of Lady Champions:

Meg Owens, of Wales, with the Roy Clunes Trophy.

British Ladies Champion - Jovanka Houska, (as was)

Sheila Dines

Kevin Stavely of the Rhondda, with the Richard Boxall Plate for his contribution above and beyond the call of duty, in running the Sunday Quiz and the Murder Mystery play.

Balloon Match: Weatherwise, the morning had started the best of the fortnight, so immediately after the prizegiving was over I gathered together Jack Rudd and Andrew Greet, and said we should get down there. I’d give the balloon folk one hour to get off the ground, then I was off.
From that moment on, everything fell into place, as if the weather Gods had had their fun and decided to relent as we’d given them enough amusement to last into the autumn.
We trundled the heavy equipment down to their little office. The balloon was up, having its obligatory test-run, and we could be on the first public ascent of the day.
Down it came, everything was piled in, Andrew and Jack and me with borrowed, hand-held video camera, and in moments we were rising up to 400 feet. With just 7 minutes on the clock, Jack and Andrew rattled out the moves and after what looked like a close contest, Greet won. There was just time for 2nd game mostly played on the way down. A draw was agreed, and so Greet won the match.
This was, of course, a match between deadly rivals, Devon and Cornwall; Greet from St. Austell and Rudd resident in Bideford, have each been their county Champions. So Cornwall won the first aerial chess match bewteen the two counties, just as they did the first terra-firma-based match in 1901.
Two questions remain: (a) Is this History’s first-ever inter-county match in a helium ballon at 400 feet?
(b) Did it actually take place at all, or am I making it up to cover for the fact that the weather was so lousy?
In answer to the latter, the video will be out shortly; post production is, even now, in the hands of IJ Productions, who are adding suitable music and titling.
In answer to the former, I’m going to claim it as a world 1st, but am happy to listen to credible counter-claims.