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Portsmouth Congress 2006 Report

An eventual entry of 163 (1 more than last year) has left me relieved but unwilling to draw any firm conclusions from the experiment with grading limits. I was pleased to note that the numbers split across the 4 tournaments in a very fair way, so I am not inclined to change things for next year.

On the night before the event, I had assessed the entries and realised that it was not a disaster, so I relaxed a bit, only to be rocked back on my heels by the withdrawal of our regular caterer whose father had been taken seriously ill. I had little time to find a replacement, and I am very grateful to Tony Corfe of TCS who saved the day by bringing an urn and running a refreshment counter that proved much more successful than I had a right to expect in the circumstances. Thank you Tony.

In the Hollington Premier, things went generally with the seedings. Of the 7 players graded over 200, 5 were in the prize list. Grandmaster Danny Gormally started off with 4 straight wins, but then lost the crunch game against Grandmaster Peter Wells and could manage only a draw against International Master Watu Kobese of South Africa. He thus shared 2nd place with Kobese, Webb and Lappage, while Peter took the £500 first prize on his own. Third seed International Master Roland Berzinsh from Latvia started off with a promising 3 wins, but then encountered Gormally, Kobese and Rose and had to settle for a modest 4 points at the end, not enough for a prize. Top local player, Tony Corkett, a former winner of this tournament, was never in the running this year.

The Wheeler Major was tightly contested, with a number of young players showing prominently. The joint winners, Yang-Fan Zhou and Craig Kennedy, both from the London area, were not at the top of the seedings and both had to win their last games to emerge on top.

The Minor tournament was just as closely fought. Sheila Dines went into the last round with a half point advantage, but took a draw and allowed Adrian Waldock to catch her by winning his last game.

The Weston Novices was quite exciting with Tony Elbourn, a local blind player, starting the last round on 5 out of 5. Unfortunately for him, he proved unable to deal with Trevor Dickerson from Essex, who prevailed against Tony's gallant defence to take the £60 prize. Tony did, however, claim the The News trophy for the best performance by a local player.

Pat McEvoy, Director

PRIZEWINNERS

Hollington Premium

Wheeler Major

Minor

Weston Novices

 The News Trophy for the best performance by a local player was awarded to Tony Elbourn, Gosport, on tie-break from Martin Bowater.