Caterham Chess Congress - Final Results

The Caterham Chess Congress took place this weekend at Caterham School.  The playing hall is the school's concert hall which was spacious and well lit.  As usual there was a good selection of food available at very reasonable prices and plenty of seating for spectators etc.

Where there was a tie for 1st place the prize money was shared, but the trophy was decided on tie-break.

Open

1. Graeme Buckley (4)
2. Yang-fan Zhou (4)
3. William Jones; Gavin Lock; Tyson Mordue (3.5)

Major

1. Lyall Baylis (4)
2. Aditya Gupta (4)
3. Rohan Shiatis; Daniel Staples; Adam Taylor; Samuel Woolacott (3.5)

Intermediate

1.  Mark Stone (4)
2. Conrad Allison (4)
3. Alexander Hardwick; James Porter (3.5)

Minor

1. Barry Miles (4)
2. David Howes (4)
3. Stephen Billet; James Hall; Rob Woolacott (3.5)

Caterham Congress Cross Tables

Caterham Congress

I played in the U-100 section yesterday and today. 3 rounds yesterday, 2 today. I started off with a game which I won easily. Then, in the afternoon, a slightly tougher game, but I managed to get a 2 pawn advantage and swap off into an ending. The final game of the day was a very different story. I played black, against an opening that I know is critical, that I know that I should study and haven't, and that I lost to the last time I faced it. History repeated itself. Guess what I shall be studying next week! This morning I had a game which on paper I should have been ensured a win. However, my opponent threw everything at me and I ended up defending for my life. Fortunately he made a miscalculation and lost a minor piece. After that the position was such that swapping off was inevitable and I won, although really it should have been the other way round. The final game was against the tournament leader who was on 4/4. (Last week he beat a 160 so I knew that I would have my work cut out to win). Tactically he's very good and I managed to get into an awful mess and lost. It put me out of the prize money, but I enjoyed the game - at one point I took a pawn which I knew would lead to something nasty, but I couldn't see what, and as I was losing wanted to see the continuation. The good news was that our club came second in the club competition, so at least that was a consolation.