Archive
Edinburgh Chess Congress Results
George Heriot's School
April 12th – 14th, 2013
Report by Jim Wallace
Entries
After a field of 214 entries in 2012, this year’s total was 215. The entries were more regular this year, not having the same worries as last year, with its nail biting last minute deluge. The knights had a big increase of entries with many juniors playing as well as an 84 year old from Oban playing in his first tournament.
The Premier event is still well attended with a strong and experienced field.
The numbers overall were down from 2 years ago so no extra prizes were included.
Premier 52 (51), Challengers 29 (32), Major 39 (45), Bishops 44 (48), and Knights 51 (38).
Apparently, the two joint Premier tournament winners IM Helgi Dam Ziska comes from the Faroe Isles while Gabrie Petesch hails from the USA. The congress is attracting players of quality including WGM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant and let’s hopes it continues to do so.
The Challengers’, Major and Knights tournaments produced outright winners while the Bishops had 5 sharing the top prizes.
Only 1 player with a disability had to use the refectory for their games, still the only solution available. There were no reported problems with smoking, litter, or general behavior, although a reminder had to be put to some of the juniors who like to mix chess and football, not to play on the grass.
The Rock and Roll Marathon being ran on the Sunday morning appeared first as if it could cause real problems to players, however, the 4th round started without a hitch and there was only an odd few players who experienced difficulty.
The solution to the Prize draw was …Re1+ but the key move was really the second Black move of …Rh1+
Bookstall
Jim Fisher of Chess and Bridge ran the bookstall and the quality of the bookstall, including software was excellent. The playing kit looked all brand new and coupled with all tournaments having digital clocks. Jim donated a book for the best placed junior in the Premier tournament (Ali Roy was presented with it as Murad Abdullah was presented with the cup on countback.
Credits
We only had 4 arbiters this year and they performed to an extremely high standard. Thanks to Alex MacFarlane, Lara Barnes, Andy Howie, and Gavin Saxton.
We didn't have the usual small army of volunteers to help with the setting up of the equipment on Friday, but fortunately all the equipment including tables and chairs were delivered nice and early so it was straightforward enough.
Thank you to the helpers who did manage: Dick Heathwood for taking the entries, preparing the leader boards, pairing cards, as well as processing the grading results. Thanks go to Terry Purkins and Eddie Gillespie for collecting entry fees on Friday and Saturday and for Terry for assisting with the prize giving evening on Sunday. Also thanks to David Stewart for unceasing background help and support.
Next year’s Congress is provisionally booked for 4 - 6 April 2014
Prizewinners list:
Premier |
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| 1st= (£375 each) | IM Helgi Dam Ziska | (Edinburgh Univ - Faroe Isles) | 4½/5 | |
| Gabriel N Petesch | (Edinburgh Univ - USA) | 4½/5 | ||
| 1st Grading Prize: (£15 each) | Jim O`Neil | (Wandering Dragons) | 3/5 | |
| Ian A Marks | (Cumbernauld) | |||
| Douglas Will | (Grangemouth) | |||
| James Doyle | (Shettleston) | |||
| 2nd Grading Prize: (£25 each) | Tom Donohue | (Hamilton) | 3/5 | |
| Duncan A F Campbell | (Oban), | |||
| East of Scotland Champion (£50) | Calum MacQueen | (Edinburgh) | 4/5 | |
| Edinburgh Evening News Cup (£15 each) | Murad Abdullazada | (Bon Accord) | ||
| Ali Roy | (Carrick) | |||
Challengers Event |
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| 1st (£150) | David Wallace | (Wandering Dragons) | 4½/5 | |
| 2nd (£70) | Douglas McKinnon | (Musselburgh) | 4/5 | |
| Grading Prize (£30) | Donald Heron | (Wandering Dragons) | 3½/5 | |
Major Event |
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| 1st (£150 ) | Suchith Suvarna | (Edinburgh) | 4½/5 | |
| 2nd (£25 each) | Robert Lawson | (Benarty) | 4/5 | |
| R McCann | (Workington) | " | ||
| Neil Irving | (Stirling) | " | ||
| Grading Prize: (£10 each) | Anna Milton | (Bon Accord) | 3/5 | |
| Ioanis Dabos-Doukis | (Edinburgh resident) | " | ||
| Martin Brejter | (Polytechnic) | " | ||
| Declan Shafi | (Castlehill) | " | ||
Bishops Event |
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| 1st= (£45 each) | Simon Kerridge | (Bearsden) | 4/5 | |
| Calum McGillivray | (Edinburgh) | " | ||
| William G C Platts | (Edinburgh) | " | ||
| Walter J Pearson | (Pentland Hills) | " | ||
| William Harkins | (Benarty) | " | ||
| Grading prize (£10 each) | Gilbert Alomenu | (Polytechnic) | 3/5 | |
| Robin Johnson | (Edinburgh West) | " | ||
| Fergus Skillen | (South Morningside) | " | ||
Knights Event |
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| 1st (£150) | Francis Lauder | (Galashiels) | 4½/5 | |
| 2nd= (£25) | Mike Wallace | (Sandy Bells) | 4/5 | |
| Andrew McCulloch | (Giffnock) | " | ||
| Charles Bird | (Edinburgh University) | " | ||
| David King | (Musselburgh) | " | ||
| William Humphries | (Bearsden) | |||
| Angus G Ruthven | (Corstorphine) | |||
| Grading Prize (£30) | Rishi Pandya | (JMS Gillespie) | 4/5 | |
Other Prizes |
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| Best Game (£30) judged by Geoff Chandler | Andrew B Burnett | (Wandering Dragons) | ||
| Giant Killer Prize (£30) (grading difference 654) | Thomas Wills | (Livingston) | ||
| Prize Draw (£30) | Graeme R Russell | (Bank of Scotland) | ||