The fifth Dundee &
Angus Congress was held 17th – 19th
October, again at the Next Generation Club,
Monifieth. Sponsorship was obtained from Open
Seas Engineering Ltd. with additional support
from Angus Council Community Grant Scheme.
Entries were
slightly down from last year to 126 this time
around, possibly due to being sandwiched
between Richardson Cup and National league
weekends which will be followed by an
attractive-looking Glasgow Congress. Once
again reduced-price use of the gym and pool
facilities and a reduced price lunch menu were
on offer and discounted accommodation was
available in the neighbouring Travel Inn.
On Saturday,
not part of the congress but at the same
venue, Iain Mackintosh was presented with
his IM (correspondence) certificate by Alan Borwell and
George Pyrich.
Click on
pic for a larger version
On Saturday
evening Geoff Chandler paid a visit in order
to entertain a crowd of about 30. Having
brought the pieces for his demonstration board
he forgot to bring the board itself. But he
did remember his guitar. A demo board was
found and Geoff was able to play over a few
games, including a near bust (he says) of the
Latvian and examples from his collaboration
with Keith Ruxton.
Click on
pic for a larger version
Geoff’s visit was,
at least in part, to assist with raising money
for the congress’s appeal for donations to
Alzheimer Scotland. Many entrants donated with
their entry fees and gave up some of their
change from the tea bar. A total of about £280
was raised, a tremendous amount given the
expense involved in travel, accommodation and
entry. Anne and Peter Woods of Chess Suppliers
also made a gesture of great generosity.An interesting
diversion on Sunday was the arrival of a film
crew from Angus Council media unit. They
conducted video interviews with several
players, footage of play in progress at the
start of round five and further footage of the
presentations. The video will be shown on the
council’s website and a copy made available
for the Congress website.
The play
The top
tournament, the Open Seas Engineering Open,
contained 29 players including GM Colin McNab,
FMs Keith Ruxton and Gunnar Jacob and WFMs
Elaine Rutherford and Amy Officer. In all 12
were rated 2000+. The first round provided the
first surprises when Sai Kong Tsang toppled
Keith Ruxton and Andrew McClement battled to a
half against Gunnar Jacob whose preparation
was not helped by falling asleep on the bus
followed by a twenty minute run to catch the
starting time. A round 2 battle of the WFMs
ended in Elaine’s favour while there were no
real upsets on the other boards. After 3
rounds Colin McNab was alone on maximum. The
Open had a late entry from an unknown (to us)
player from Nigeria, Lamal Rashid, but
currently living in Dundee and who justified
his presence by beating Andrew McClement
following a draw with Steve Hogg. The biggest
surprise in round 4 was Clement Sreeve’s win
over Dave Findlay while McNab continued on
maximum. The final round saw Sreeve’s fine run
rewarded (?) with a top-board meeting against
McNab and gaining a draw from it, though this
was not a normal last-round short draw as it
lasted 24 moves. This left Colin as outright
winner and Clement equal second with Gunnar
Jacob who avenged a previous year’s encounter
with a win against Peter Romilly.
The Challengers
attracted 33 entries.Most games went to form
but Nanning Van Mulken overcame a 160 point
deficit when Colin Edwards blew a piece and
Martin Chalmers lost a 277 point advantage to
unrelated namesake Bruce. Round 2 saw
second-highest graded Eoin Campbell beaten by
Bappa Roy who went on to maximum points at the
end of round 3 alongside Ade Egbaiyelo. At
this point they parted company when they were
drawn together and Ade proved too strong for
Bappa. The best of the rest were now a full
point behind. Ade finished his tournament by
polishing off top-graded John Clifford to
finish on maximum points, still a full point
clear.
In the Major there
were 28 entries. The tournament got off to a
sedate start with only one of the top 8,
Timothy Allen from London, failing to register
and this gentility continued in round 2.
Nothing much to say so far but in round three
the knives came out: top-grade Walter Pearson
was knocked back by Andrew Newton, 300 points
down the order, and third-graded Noel Boustred
from Newcastle saw off second-graded Lawrence
Freel. These two victors were then drawn
together with Andrew coming out on top to be
the only player on full points at the end of
the fourth round. Andrew’s hopes of first
place were dashed by losing to Daniel Maxwell
who had been creeping up behind and who now
claimed sole first position.
Three points of
interest marked the start of the Minor: there
were only 2 wins by white out of ten games and
top-graded Geoffrey White lost to Michael
Adam, 216 points down the order, but this was
eclipsed by John Garson from Orkney who, by
beating John Lynch, would later be awarded the
Giantkiller prize for the 449 point
difference. John was to recover from this and
finish in second place. Geoffrey’s unhappy
start continued in round two when he, Gilbert
Alomenu and Norman Grant (3 of the top four)
lost to significantly lower-graded players. By
round 3 only Malcolm MacMillan and Michael
Adam were on full points so they met for the
next game, Michael ending on top. This run
came to an end in the final round he lost to
Michael McRobert who became the fourth solo
first place.
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