84th Hastings International Congress, 28 December 2008 - 5 January 2009

Last Edited: Monday December 29, 2008 11:02 AM

The annual Hastings Congress got under way on Sunday 28 December 2008.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF ROUND ONE (© 2008 JOHN SAUNDERS)

The first act of the congress was to pay tribute to one of Britain's best loved chessplayers, Bob Wade (1921-2008) who - amongst the manifold things he did for chess - played a key role in supporting the congress both as player and arbiter. Stewart Reuben paid a simple but heart-felt tribute to this great man of chess with the words "thanks, Bob". This was followed by a one-minute silence.

One-minute silence for Bob Wade (1921-2008) at the Hastings Congress, 28 December 2008

Local boy made good: the Mayor of Hastings, Councillor Maureen Charlesworth, is president of the Hastings Chess Congress Committee and Michael Foster, MP for Hastings, is also a tremendous supporter of chess in the town, and it was a proud moment for them to welcome local boy Stuart Conquest home with his new title of British Chess Champion.

We then moved to the top board where the Mayor and MP each made an opening move. For the record, their game went Charlesworth - Foster: 1 d3 c6 ½-½. I shall expect to see that on next year's Mega Database unless FIDE intervene to declare a draw under 30 moves invalid. The two players, Petr Marusenko (white) and Valery Neverov, had both travelled all the way from Ukraine to play each other.

Valery Neverov returns to seek a fourth successive masters title, having won outright in 2005/6, jointly with Gagunashvili in 2006/7 and jointly with Malakhatko and Mamedov in 2007/8. Should he win a fourth successive title, it would set a record (if we consider the modern Masters event alongside the old Premier - Flohr, Andersson and Bareev won three successive Premiers).

Neverov is fourth seed based on rating. The other leading contenders, in rating order, are Emanuel Berg (Sweden), Igor Kurnosov (Russia), David Howell (England), Gawain Jones (England), Stuart Conquest (England), Milos Pavlovic (Serbia), Stephen Gordon (England), Mark Hebden (England), Danny Gormally (England) and Stewart Haslinger (England). The last English winner at Hastings was Stuart Conquest in 2000 so the strong English contingent will be keen to regain the title, just as they were in the last British Championship when Stuart became the first English winner for quite a number of years.

Top seed Emanuel Berg plays Bob Eames of England in round one. It ended 1-0.

England's David Howell settles down to play his first round game, which he won.

GM Gawain Jones relaxes with his girlfriend Sue Maroroa (New Zealand) for a few moments before the first round starts.

A general view of the congress.

Home Page: www.bcmchess.co.uk