8th Heywood Rapidplay, 12 January 2003

Biggest Heywood chess rapidplay for years

Organiser Bill O'Rourke reports: 175 competitors from all over the country were in attendance at the Heywood Civic Hall for the 8th Heywood Rapidplay. Players came from Darlington to Norwich, Sheffield to Colwyn Bay. Heywood continues to build its reputation as a center for chess excellence, while many chess competitions around the country are struggling. The Heywood rapidplay and congress are two of the largest chess events to take place in the North of the country. Once again the success of this rapidplay is due a great deal because of the sponsorships supplied by the Heywood Advertiser, Coversure Insurance and Kumon Maths.

Rapidplay players included 10 year old Liam O'Rourke, through to 73 year old Jim Tennant Smith and 94(!) year old Antonin Weleminsky. The overall first prize involved competition between some of the best players in the North West and ended with a narrow victory by Grandmaster Nigel Davies from Southport. The total prize fund of nearly £1,000 was shared amongst 25 players in different sections, from experts to novices.

The next big chess event at the Civic will be the 9th Heywood Congress on June 21st-22nd. This year there will be two British Championship qualifying places up for grabs.

Local players can meanwhile develop their chess skills at the Heywood Chess Club. Bill says: "Our chess club meets every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Freemasons Arms, when all standards (beginners to grandmasters, 5 years to 100) are most welcome to join! We play in many local leagues, at many different skill levels. We also run a chess school for 8-16 year olds at St.Joseph's Primary School heywood between 3.30 and 4.45 p.m. on Mondays, which is proving very popular. Bill can be contacted on 01706 627874.

RESULTS, 12 January 2003

HEYWOOD ADVERTISER OPEN:
1 Nigel Davies (Southport) 5.5/6 £130
2 Alan Walton (3C's) 4.5/6 £60
3 = Jon Burgess (Chorlton), Chris Ross (Wombwell), Brett Lund (Preston), Adam Ashton (3C's) and Oliver Jackson 3.5/6 £6 each
Grading prizes: Paul Plant ( 3C's), Richard Westwood (Rushall) and Jim Sumner (Preston) 3/6 £6.70 each

COVERSURE INSURANCE HEYWOOD MAJOR :
1 John Schofield (Crusaderes) 5.5/6 £130
2 Steve Horrocks (Great Harwood), Roger Williamson (Hunts Cross), Matt Woodward (Doncaster), Andrew Fawcett (Lancaster) 4.5/6 £22.50 each
Grading prizes: Nick Barnaby (EEC), Cory Hazlehurst (3C's), Richard Clissold (Warrington) and Simon Crowley (Stockport) £10 each

KUMON MATHS MINOR:
1= Tudor Rickhards (East Cheshire) and Janos Wagenbach (Mansfield) 5.5/6 £95 each
3= Peter Worsley (Radcliffe), David Patrick (Courier), James Lawson (Netherton), Fred Butterworth (Oldham), Martin Burns (Stockport), Adam Scouler (Swinton) and Michael Wood (Pensby) 4.5/6 £4.30 each
Grading prizes: Brian Slater (Radcliffe) £20; Roy Atherton (Wigan), Robert Moruzzi (Cheddleton) & Tony Moran (Pontefract) £6.70 each

KUMON MATHS NOVICE:
1 James Carrington (Tameside) 5.5/6 £50
2 = Ian Anderson (Stockport) and Alex Mason (Tameside) 5/6 £15 each

Chess problem prizewinner: Dave Jameson (Colwyn Bay) £10

Home Page: www.bcmchess.co.uk