The 18th Heywood, Lancashire, Chess Congress
June 23-24 2012
18th Heywood Chess Congress Pulls in the Players
Entries to the eighteenth Heywood Chess Congress, held at a full Heywood Civic Hall, were 25% up on last year. Aggressive marketing, allied with an excellent website set up by Steve Fanning (including on-line entry and payment) proved successful. Participants came from Aberdeen, Aberystwyth, Scunthorpe, Bangor, York, Stafford, Ashtead, Chester, Derby, Penrith and Kenilworth, alongside Heywood and Lancashire players. And then a further 10 competitors came from our friends in Peine, Germany.
The VAN LEEUWEN OPEN was eventually won by grandmaster Keith Arkell, with a 4½/5 score, which also made him the Lancashire Open Champion. Young Joe Phillips of Bolton finished second equal, and is proving a real prospect.
First place in the DATA MATTERS MAJOR proved a real tussle. Eventually first place was shared by four players. One of the four was young Andrew Horton, another future star. Peter Mulleady of Atherton finished as the new Lancashire Major Champion.
In the LINK4LIFE INTERMEDIATE, a new player to the event, Peter Lovatt of Malpas, was the winner, finishing unbeaten. Second place proved a real scrap, with six players sharing runner-up spot! Erhardt Hentschel of Peine won a grading prize.
In the ANTONIN WELEMINSKY MINOR, local and foreign interest was maintained by Harry Praeger of Aberdeen (formally Heywood) sharing equal third place with Peine’s Christian Kubitza. Heywood’s Pete Edhouse also won a grading prize. The section was won equally by blind player Graham Pennington of Atherton and young Ben Scattergood of Holmes Chapel.
The KUMON MATHS & ENGLISH NOVICE was won by young Jason Lau of Oldham. David Thorp of Heywood was half a point off third, while Heywood player Barry Thompson was getting his first experience of competitive congress chess.
Organiser Bill O’Rourke said "I'm really pleased with the entry numbers, well up on last year, despite the general economic situation". Bill stressed the importance of the sponsors to the event: "Without our sponsors, this event could not take place – many thanks to Van Leeuwen Steel Tubes of Bury and Aberdeen, and Data Matters, Link4Life and Kumon Maths & English from Heywood".
Next year’s chess congress at Heywood will be take place on June 22-23 2013. Meanwhile the Heywood Chess Club continues to meet at the Hopwood Unionist Club on Tuesday at 7.30.
Results
THE VAN LEEUWEN OPEN (crosstable)
1st Keith Arkell (Heywood) 4½/5 £350 and Lancashire Open Champion £25
2nd= Joe McPhillips (Bolton) and Adam Ashton (3C’s) 4/5 £120 each
U185 Grading Prizes: Peter Bernhard (Aigburth), Raymond Pearson (Chester), Michael Fernandez (Marple) and Nathan Talbot (Wigan) 3/5 £5 each
DATA MATTERS MAJOR (crosstable)
1st= Paul Cawley (Denton), Philip Olbison (Chorlton), Andrew Horton (3C’s) and John Wareing 4/5 £107.50 each
Lancashire Major Champion: Peter Mulleady (Atherton) £25
Grading Prize: U165 Dave Patrick (Courier) and Martin Burns (Stockport) 3/5 £10 each
LINK4LIFE INTERMEDIATE (crosstable)
1st Peter Lovatt (Malpas) 4½/5 £200
2nd= Wiat Ropp (Stratford), Ian Stephens (Liverpool), Paul Stephenson (Waterloo), Sean Hewitt (Widnes), Stephen Bastable (Harrogate) and Chris Chadwick (Padgate) 3½/5 £25 each
Lancashire Intermediate Champion: Neil Coward (Lytham Ex) £25
Grading Prizes:
U151-145 Kamran Ahmadi (Denton), Jan Kitshoff (Culcheth), Jon E Blackburn (Holmes Chapel), Damian McCarthy (Padgate) and Erhardt Hentschel (Peine) 3/5 £4 each
U145 Neil Coward (Lytham Ex) and Paul Talbot (Wigan) 3/5 £10 each
ANTONIN WELEMINSKY MINOR (crosstable)
1st= Ben Scattergood (Holmes Chapel) and Graham Pennington (Atherton) 4½/5 £150 each
Graham Pennington also Lancashire Minor Champion £25
3rd= Harry Praeger (Heywood) and Christian Kubitza (Peine) 4/5 £25 each
Grading prizes:
129-120 William Egan (Scunthorpe) 3½/5 £20
119-111 Peter Edhouse (Heywood), George Scattergood (Holmes Chapel), Sri Sriharan (York RI) and Parshottambhi Patel (Bolton) 2½/5 £5 each
U111 Alex Kitshoff (Culcheth) 3½/5 £20
KUMON MATHS & ENGLISH NOVICE (crosstable)
1st Jason Lau (3C’s) 4½/5 £100
2nd= Peter Clark (Rose Forgrove), Boris Garanins (Poulton) and Huw Davis (Bangor) 4/5 £23.33 each
Puzzle competition winner: Michael Fernandez (Marple) £10
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