The 5th Bournemouth Grand Chess Congress was held at the excellent Bournemouth West Cliff Hotel over the weekend of 28th to 30th March 2025 and it attracted a full house of 144 players.
The winner of the Open section was GM Danny Gormally who scored 4½ points out of 5.
Danny Gormally (front right) on his way to winning the £1,000 1st prize, this time defeating local player, Christian Westrap, in Round 1!
The overall prize fund was well in excess of £5,000 and there were also excellent prizes in the other sections and included local player, Mark Potter (Dorchester), who won the Major section with 4½ points out of 5 winning £500.
The full results can be found here …
In total there were 34 winners! Close to a quarter of the players won prizes!
There were 2 DGT boards in use which transmitted the top 2 boards for each of the 5 rounds live over the internet. These games can still be found here.
Brendan O’Gorman has provided his top quality photos taken at the Congress.
List of Prizewinners
| Open | Name | Points | £ | |
| 1st | D Gormally | 4½ | 1,000 | |
| 2nd | R Bezuidenhout | 4 | 200 | |
| J Underwood | 4 | 200 | ||
| 2050 to 2200 | A Young | 3½ | 100 | |
| 1950 to 2049 (1) | Z Booth | 3 | 67 | |
| Under 1950 (1) | H Honarvarmahalati | 3 | 67 | |
| J Fawcett | 3 | 67 | ||
| West of England Chess Union (WECU) Champion | J Underwood | 4 | Trophy | |
| British Championship Qualifying Place | To be offered to J Underwood | Worth up to | 310 | To be paid by the WECU |
| WECU Ladies Champion | To be confirmed | Trophy | ||
| The Mayor Cooper Trophy for the best performing Dorset player | Allan Pleasants | 3 | Trophy | |
| Major | ||||
| 1st | M Potter | 4.5 | 500 | |
| 2nd | H Melling | 4 | 150 | |
| D Goodlad | 4 | 150 | ||
| 1775 to 1824 (2) | J Reghu | 3½ | 67 | |
| 1725 to 1774 (2) | T Joyce | 3½ | 67 | |
| M Choudbury | 3½ | 67 | ||
| Under 1725 | R Burton | 2½ | 34 | |
| M Orszulak | 2½ | 34 | ||
| S Morris | 2½ | 34 | ||
| Intermediate | ||||
| 1st | S Williams | 4 | 200 | |
| A Dore | 4 | 200 | ||
| DJ Fowler | 4 | 200 | ||
| M Probert | 4 | 200 | ||
| 1525 to 1599 & Under 1525 | R Coles (3) | 3½ | 100 | |
| N Collins (3) | 2½ | 17 | ||
| I Blencowe (3) | 2½ | 17 | ||
| J Merry (3) | 2½ | 17 | ||
| P Stevens (3) | 2½ | 17 | ||
| P Collis (3) | 2½ | 17 | ||
| J Peel (3) | 2½ | 17 | ||
| Organiser’s Discretionary Prize | N Holmes (3) | 3 | 50 | |
| Minor | ||||
| 1st | T Greenaway | 4 | 500 | |
| 2nd | R Sridharan (4) | 4½ | 150 | |
| B Arslan (4) | 4½ | 150 | ||
| 1300 to 1399 | D Lightfoot | 2½ | 50 | |
| D Tomlin | 2½ | 50 | ||
| Under 1300 | D Blackwell | 2 | 100 | |
| Total | 5,166 | |||
| Notes | ||||
| (1) The 1950 to 2049 & Under 1950 rating prizes have been merged & shared amongst 3 players as they had the same scores. | ||||
| (2) The 1775 to 1824 & 1725 to 1774 rating prizes have been merged & shared amongst 3 players as they had the same scores. | ||||
| (3) The 1525 to 1599 & Under 1525 rating prizes have been merged with an extra £50 Organisers Discretionary Prize added so that there are prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd with 6 players sharing a £100 3rd place pot as they had the same score. | ||||
| (4) These players did not have an ECF A or K rating so were not eligible to win the 1st Prize. | ||||
Martin Simons – Congress Organiser – 4/4/25
