2026 Dorset Closed Chess Congress Report
Introduction
50 players took part at the 2026 Dorset Closed Chess Championships which were held in the Merlot suite at the Bournemouth West Cliff Hotel from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th January 2026. This was 5 more than last year and the best turnout for over 10 years.
It was also very pleasing to see so many juniors playing, indeed, there were 11 of them and they all performed well!
The sections were pretty evenly split with 19 players in the Open, 15 players in the Major and 16 players in the Minor.
Due to the higher than expected entry, the total prize fund was increased to £950. The extra prize money was used to increase the value of several prizes and introduce one extra prize.
The playing room was ideal for the tournament with plenty of space in comfortable surroundings. The hotel provided a water station, plus there was food & drink available in the lounge bar area which was of a high quality. The lounge bar area also made a perfect choice where players could relax and analyse their games after.
To help with the friendly yet competitive ambience of the tournament we had …
- A demonstration board in the playing room.
- A separate analysis area in the Chenin Suite which was as an extra feature for this year.
- A DGT electronic smart chess board which allowed for the live transmission of moves across the internet on the top board game in the Championship in each of the 5 rounds. All of these games can still be found via the following link … https://view.livechesscloud.com/#66f18b1d-bb01-4c25-ab81-675d81b6d0f9
- Pairings & results being updated live on LMS.
The last two features allowed people to have a birds eye view of the Congress events as they happened in the comfort of their own home!
Prizewinners
All the section winners together!
There were 19 prizewinners! This represented almost 40% of all those who took part!
Championship (Open) Section
The Championship section was hard fought throughout including games on the higher boards. However, top seed Finn Schell seemed to sail through the first 4 rounds playing well and winning reasonably comfortably. He was tested in the final round by last year’s champion, Allan Pleasants, but he managed to navigate his way through many of the complications to reach a drawish opposite coloured bishop middlegame and with this draw he won the section by 1 point and therefore became the Dorset Individual Chess Champion and winner of the C. F. Chapman Esq trophy which was first awarded in 1929.
1st – Finn Schell (Southbourne) – 4½ pts (£200 plus trophy)
2nd – Mike Waddington, Bruce Jenks, Allan Pleasants & Christian Westrap – 3½ pts (£30 each)
Rating (Under 2000) – Adam Ursell, Ian Clark & Hugo Melling – 3 pts (£20 each)
Rating (Under 1900) – Tim Jones – 2½ pts (£50)
Final Standings
| No | Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finn Schell | 1 (b11) | 1 (w6) | 1 (b5) | 1 (w3) | ½ (b4) | 4½ |
| 2 | Mike P Waddington | 0 (w9) | 1 (b13) | 1 (b10) | 1 (w16) | ½ (b5) | 3½ |
| 3 | C Bruce Jenks | 1 (b12) | 1 (w7) | 1 (b9) | 0 (b1) | ½ (w10) | 3½ |
| 4 | Allan J Pleasants | 1 (w13) | 0 (b9) | 1 (w17) | 1 (b6) | ½ (w1) | 3½ |
| 5 | Christian F Westrap | 1 (b17) | 1 (w8) | 0 (w1) | 1 (b9) | ½ (w2) | 3½ |
| 6 | Adam R Ursell | 1 (b19) | 0 (b1) | 1 (w14) | 0 (w4) | 1 (b16) | 3 |
| 7 | Ian C Clark | 1 (w18) | 0 (b3) | ½ ( HPB) | ½ (b11) | 1 (w14) | 3 |
| 8 | Hugo Melling | 1 ( FPB) | 0 (b5) | ½ (w18) | ½ (w10) | 1 (b13) | 3 |
| 9 | Tim Jones | 1 (b2) | 1 (w4) | 0 (w3) | 0 (w5) | ½ (b11) | 2½ |
| 10 | Anuhas Gamage | ½ (w14) | 1 (b15) | 0 (w2) | ½ (b8) | ½ (b3) | 2½ |
| 11 | Dennis Stokes-Carter | 0 (w1) | 1 (b19) | 0 (b16) | ½ (w7) | ½ (w9) | 2 |
| 12 | Leonard J Laker | 0 (w3) | ½ (b18) | ½ (w15) | 0 (b14) | 1 (w19) | 2 |
| 13 | Martin J Clancy | 0 (b4) | 0 (w2) | 1 (w19) | 1 (b18) | 0 (w8) | 2 |
| 14 | Stephen M Pollyn | ½ (b10) | ½ (w16) | 0 (b6) | 1 (w12) | 0 (b7) | 2 |
| 15 | Mark A Potter | ½ ( HPB) | 0 (w10) | ½ (b12) | 1 (w17) | – ( ) | 2 |
| 16 | William Adaway | ½ ( HPB) | ½ (b14) | 1 (w11) | 0 (b2) | 0 (w6) | 2 |
| 17 | Richard W Ursell | 0 (w5) | 1 ( FPB) | 0 (b4) | 0 (b15) | ½ (w18) | 1½ |
| 18 | Aarav Swansh Mehta | 0 (b7) | ½ (w12) | ½ (b8) | 0 (w13) | ½ (b17) | 1½ |
| 19 | Rashad Rahimli | 0 (w6) | 0 (w11) | 0 (b13) | 1 ( FPB) | 0 (b12) | 1 |
Major Section
There were 4 players on 3 points going into the final round and they were paired together. Only George Hornsby was victorious to win the section and the Captain P. H. di Marco trophy which was first awarded in 1947.
1st – George Hornsby – 4 pts (£100 plus trophy)
2nd – Tony Sanderson who was also eligible to win the U1700 prize (£50) & Joshua Hampson – 3½ pts (£40)
Rating Under 1700 2nd place – Girish Harihar – 3pts (£30) – This was an extra discretionary prize – Girish scored more than 50% and did not lose a game despite being seeded 12th out of 15 players.
Rating Under 1600 – Azhar Ghose – 2½ pts (£40)
Final Standings
| No | Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Hornsby | ½ ( HPB) | 1 (w13) | ½ (b3) | 1 (w6) | 1 (b7) | 4 |
| 2 | Tony Sanderson | 0 (w4) | 1 ( FPB) | 1 (b10) | 1 (w9) | ½ (b3) | 3½ |
| 3 | Joshua T Hampson | ½ (w5) | 1 (b12) | ½ (w1) | 1 (b4) | ½ (w2) | 3½ |
| 4 | E James Schumacher | 1 (b2) | 1 (w7) | ½ (b6) | 0 (w3) | ½ (b8) | 3 |
| 5 | Girish Harihar | ½ (b3) | ½ (w14) | ½ (b9) | 1 (w11) | ½ (b6) | 3 |
| 6 | Peter Wilcock | 1 (b10) | 1 (w8) | ½ (w4) | 0 (b1) | ½ (w5) | 3 |
| 7 | Tim Joyce | 1 ( FPB) | 0 (b4) | 1 (w12) | 1 (b8) | 0 (w1) | 3 |
| 8 | John Belinger | 1 (w15) | 0 (b6) | 1 (b14) | 0 (w7) | ½ (w4) | 2½ |
| 9 | Ramganesh Sridharan | 0 (w12) | 1 (b11) | ½ (w5) | 0 (b2) | 1 (w13) | 2½ |
| 10 | Azhar Ghose | 0 (w6) | 1 (b15) | 0 (w2) | ½ (b12) | 1 ( FPB) | 2½ |
| 11 | Peter A Manning | ½ ( HPB) | 0 (w9) | 1 (b13) | 0 (b5) | 1 (w12) | 2½ |
| 12 | James Hawkes | 1 (b9) | 0 (w3) | 0 (b7) | ½ (w10) | 0 (b11) | 1½ |
| 13 | Derek Mount | ½ ( HPB) | 0 (b1) | 0 (w11) | 1 ( FPB) | 0 (b9) | 1½ |
| 14 | Richard D Perrin | ½ ( HPB) | ½ (b5) | 0 (w8) | – ( ) | – ( ) | 1 |
| 15 | Chris JP Leeson | 0 (b8) | 0 (w10) | – ( ) | – ( ) | – ( ) | 0 |
Minor Section
Nick Stout & Guy Prendergast were joint leaders going into the final round and they agreed a draw allowing Peter Nimmo to catch them when he won his game. All 3 share the Dorset Minor Chess Championship trophy.
1st – Nick Stout, Guy Prendergast & Peter Nimmo – 4 pts (£60 each plus trophy)
Rating (Under 1500) – Nicolas Oo – 3 pts (£40)
Rating (Under 1000) – Anish Iyengar – 2 pts (£40)
Final Standings
| No | Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicholas B Stout | 1 (b13) | 1 (w16) | 1 (b7) | ½ (w3) | ½ (b2) | 4 |
| 2 | Guy Prendergast | 1 (w15) | ½ (b9) | 1 (w5) | 1 (b8) | ½ (w1) | 4 |
| 3 | Peter Nimmo | 1 (w14) | ½ (b5) | 1 (w6) | ½ (b1) | 1 (w4) | 4 |
| 4 | Nicolas Oo | 0 (w5) | 1 (b15) | 1 (w16) | 1 (w7) | 0 (b3) | 3 |
| 5 | Chris Foley | 1 (b4) | ½ (w3) | 0 (b2) | 1 (w11) | ½ (w8) | 3 |
| 6 | Christopher G Webb | 1 (w10) | 0 (b7) | 0 (b3) | 1 (w9) | 1 (b11) | 3 |
| 7 | Jarad Clark | 1 (b11) | 1 (w6) | 0 (w1) | 0 (b4) | 1 (w10) | 3 |
| 8 | Julian Schofield | ½ ( HPB) | 1 (b12) | 1 (w9) | 0 (w2) | ½ (b5) | 3 |
| 9 | Tim Rushworth | 1 ( FPB) | ½ (w2) | 0 (b8) | 0 (b6) | 1 (w12) | 2½ |
| 10 | Neil Ramesh | 0 (b6) | 0 (w11) | 1 (w15) | 1 (b16) | 0 (b7) | 2 |
| 11 | Anish Iyengar | 0 (w7) | 1 (b10) | 1 (w14) | 0 (b5) | 0 (w6) | 2 |
| 12 | Andre Labouchardiere | 0 (b16) | 0 (w8) | 1 (b13) | 1 (w14) | 0 (b9) | 2 |
| 13 | Michael Ellery | 0 (w1) | ½ (b14) | 0 (w12) | 0 (b15) | 1 (w16) | 1½ |
| 14 | Advik Dongre | 0 (b3) | ½ (w13) | 0 (b11) | 0 (b12) | 1 (w15) | 1½ |
| 15 | Kautam Narendran | 0 (b2) | 0 (w4) | 0 (b10) | 1 (w13) | 0 (b14) | 1 |
| 16 | Akshay Iyengar | 1 (w12) | 0 (b1) | 0 (b4) | 0 (w10) | 0 (b13) | 1 |
Congratulations all prizewinners!
I would like to thank:
- Bill Adaway for keeping the website up to date with the entries.
- Peter Anderson for all his help with the DGT boards and for supporting the website.
- Everyone involved with the setting up of the room and then with the packing up of the chess sets & clocks at the end. These include Steve Peirson (who also took the above photos), Nick Stout, John Belinger, Martin Clancy & Ian Clark.
We plan to hold the Dorset Closed Congress again next year.
Hope to see you then!
Martin Simons – Tournament Organiser
January 2026
