Friday 11th to Sunday 13th October, The Elstead Hotel, Bournemouth
Tournament Report
Fifteen year old Declan L
ovelock of Southbourne Chess Club and Harewood School won the Open, continuing his remarkable start to his chess career having not played a serious over the board game before a couple of weeks ago. He won his first 4 matches and drew with Walter Saunders in last round who came equal second with Jonathan Underwood. Martin Clancy won the grading prize with 3 points.
Frank Pittman of Weymouth and Matthew Wilson were equal first in the Major on 4 points after both winning in last round. There were good performances from local players Richard Smith and Jon Catchpole who came equal 3rd on 3.5 points and Peter Manning who won a grading prize on 3.
Robert McClatchey won the Intermediate section with an excellent 4.5. There was a 4 way tie for 2nd including local players John Belinger and Paul Jackson on 3.5. Rob Davenport won a grading prize with 3 points. The 10 year old junior Matthew Deacon who plays for Wessex in 4NCL had an excellent tournament and was unlucky to only get 2.5 points. Jamie Doyle who was playing much higher rated players than himself won 1 very good game.
Graeme Ford won the Minor with 4.5 points and there was a 4 way tie for 2nd including Purbeck player George Holden. Dorset juniors Ted Paul with 3.5 and Vaughan De Grave with 2.5 both did well and 8 year old Nicholas Deacon ( brother of Matthew ) did well with 2.5 as well. There were also some good performances by seniors notably James Wallman from Verwood who has reached his 90’s and won a grading prize with 2.5 points.
The tournament was enjoyed by all and having 4 separate rooms meant a lot more space for all the players. There were 31 prizes given out and cheques will be sent out by end of this week. It was good to see so many juniors playing this year.
Thanks must go to the Elstead Hotel and all the staff who were very helpful. Also thanks to Geoff Gammon for his arbiter work and updating the results and the draw on chessresults.com . Also thanks to Jim Fisher for his bookstall and supplying all sets, boards and clocks.
Ian Clark
