Hampshire Chess Association

      

2002 Congress    

Games in PGN Format

Premier    

Major    

Minor    

Novices

Portsmouth Chess Congress

 (part of the British Chess Federation 2003 Grand Prix)

 at Portsmouth Grammar School, 21 - 23 February 2003

After last year's disappointing retreat in numbers, it was positively exhilarating to experience this year's resurgence. When late entries and non-appearances had all settled down, the final tally was 197 paying customers, a most gratifying improvement from last year's 164, and our best turnout for quite some years.

A particular relief was that the Premier returned to more normal numbers. Last year, an additional £500 prize had been added to the top of the Premier prize fund to secure "elite" status on the Grand Prix circuit. Unfortunately, only 14 entries had been received, where we had been used to having a couple of dozen. I was therefore nervous for this year. In fact, this proved to be our strongest Premier ever, with 1 Grandmaster, 8 International Masters and 2 Fide Masters. The winner, Alexander Cherniaev from Russia, was very impressive throughout, allowing his coolness to slip only at the start of the last round when he was unhappy about the colour assigned to him. I was concerned he might become distracted by this detail and blunder, but I also expected an early draw whatever colour he had, and this duly arrived after 20 moves. Grandmaster Peter Wells, last year's winner, had his chance with the white pieces against Cherniaev in Round 5, but could make no headway.

The Major Tournament was another triumph for James Mansson of Horsham. Last year he shared first prize with 2 others. This year he went one better to take the £150 first prize outright. With a grade of 161, James is not eligible fo play in the Premier, so I can't force him to move up. I therefore look forward to his attempt at a hat-trick next year.

In the Minor Tournament, winner Kier Eyles of Portsmouth maintained the tradition of local players being to the fore. With a score of 5½ points, Kier also took The New Trophy for the best performance by a local player.

The only 100% winner in the congress was Lewis Martin of Swindon who won the Novices Tournament with 6 out of 6. Lewis is a rapidly improving 11 year-old player. If he makes as much progress this year as he did last year (and results such as this suggest he will), he will be too highly graded to enter the Novices next year.

The destination of the Ladies prize proved to be the only tricky decision at the end of the weekend. The highest scoring lady was in fact Susan Chadwick from Brighton with 4½. However, she was awarded her share of 3rd place (£30) and the Ladies Prize (£30) was awarded to Teresa Khoo of Weybridge. Teresa had originally entered the Premier but, upon seeing the sheer strength of it, took a very wise decision to retreat the Major.

Premier Prize Winners

Place

Player

Score

Prize

1st

A Cherniaev, IM  (Russia)

5/6

£500

2nd =

 

 

P K Wells, IGM   (Portsmouth)

4.5/6

£200

A C Hunt, IM   (Brighton)

4.5/6

£200

D Gormally, IM   (London)

4.5/6

£200

5th =

S T Buckley,   (Bath)

4/6

£30

 

J Lappage,   (Kidlington)

4/6

£30

U-210 =

 

 

D J Ledger, FM   (London)

3/6

£20

P Kemp,   (Crawley)

3/6

£20

K Coates,   (Yateley)

3/6

£20

U-185

M Singleton,   (Guildford)

3/6

£30

 

Other scores :-

 

 

 

 

 

S K Williams, IM

3.5/6

 

C S Crouch, IM

3.5/6

 

R Gwaze, IM

3.5/6

 

N E Povah, IM

3.5/6

 

R M Webb, FM

3/6

 

J T Sherwin, IM

2.5/6

 

 

Top

Major Prize Winners

Place

Player

Club

Score

Prize

1st

J Mansson

Horsham

5/6

£150

2nd=

M Cutmore

Ashford

4½

£50

 

T Anderson

Southampton

 

£50

 

D Cutmore

Woodford Green

 

£50

 

R Perrin

Southampton

 

£50

U160

S Bartlett

Camelford

4

£30

U145=

A Wells

Portsmouth

4

£10

 

I Stenhouse

Southampton

 

 £10

 

S Isaac

Portsmouth

 

 £10

U135

D Badham

Brighton

3

£30

 

Top

Minor Prize Winners

Place

Player

Club

Score

Prize

1st

K Eyles

Portsmouth

5½/6

£120

2nd=

N Colter

North Harrow

5

£60

 

J Adcock

Reading

 

 £60

 

J Song

New Malden

 

 £60

U120=

A Collins

Oxford

4

£10

 

P Dallas

Portsmouth

 

 £10

 

B Blackburn

London

 

 £10

 

M Loat

London

 

 £10

U110=

J Tivillier

Bromley

4

£15

 

S Russell

Portsmouth

 

 £15

U100=

R Morris-Weston

Reading

4

£15

 

K De Nazareth

London

 

 £15

 

Top

Novices Prize Winners

 

Place

Player

Club

Score

Prize

1st

L Martin

Swindon

6/6

£60

2nd

R Walker

Portsmouth

5

£50

3rd=

T Dickerson

Maldon

4½

£30

 

K Smith

London

 

 £30

 

S Chadwick

Brighton

 

 £30

 

Ladies Prize - Teresa Khoo (Weybridge) 4/6 in Major £30

The News Trophy for the best performance by a local player was won by Kier Eyles of Portsmouth, winner of the Minor Tournament

Report by Pat McEvoy, Director

Games from open in PGN Format

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