9th Heywood Congress, June 21-22 2003

Last Edited: Friday July 18, 2003 1:24 PM

Bill O'Rourke reports:

Local, regional and international success for Heywood Chess!

Nearly 150 players from all over the country - and Mexico! - descended on Heywood Civic Hall on 21-23 June to participate in the 9th Heywood chess congress. Held over two days, participants from Scotland, Wales, London and Mexico were joined by Grandmaster Nigel Davies from Southport and two IMs, Steve Mannion of Scotland and Stewart Haslinger of Formby.

This time the Grandmaster didn't have it all his own way in the VIRIDOR Open section and finally it was the IMs who won out in the final round (a bit misleading - we understand that GM Nigel Davies in fact withdrew through illness after the third round when he had a score of 2½/3 - ed). Blind Player Chris Ross from Sheffield won the grading prize.

Heywood's Jim Tennant Smith ( a sprightly 76 years old amongst all the youngsters) performed magnificently, finishing equal first in the HEYWOOD ADVERTISER Major section. This was Jim's best performance for some time, showing you can't keep a good chess player down.

The HEYWOOD ON LINE intermediate section was a ding-dong affair until the final minutes, finishing with five player tied for first place! The VIRIDOR Minor had a clear winner in Mark Stollery of Nelson.

The KUMON MATHS Novice saw some great performances from Heywood players, especially Peter Edhouse who finished equal Second. Sixteen year old Stephen Diggle of Heywood was only just out of the prizes.

'This time the congress proved a great success for Heywood players, and for the town of Heywood, attracting visitors from all over the country', said organizer Bill O'Rourke. 'But it really must be stressed that without the magnificent support of Viridor Waste Management Services, the Heywood Advertiser, Dunnes Stores, Heywood On-Line and Kumon Maths the event quite simply couldn't take place - hire of the hall from RMBC is very costly. It's a pity the Tourism Department don't support the event, which brings visitors from all over to our town, like other councils - most events get their Town Halls free, and some even make a contribution towards the running of the event.'

The next chess event in Heywood will be the Heywood Chess Rapidplay on January 18th 2004. Meanwhile the Heywood Chess Club meets every Tuesday upstairs at the Freemasons Arms from 7.15 onwards, all players of any standard welcome.

VIRIDOR OPEN:
1st= IM Steve Mannion (Cathcart), IM Stewart Haslinger (Formby) and Alan Walton (3C's) 4/5 £176.67p each
Grading Prize: Chris Ross (Wombwell) 3/5 £20
British Championship Qualifiers: Alan Walton and Robert Taylor

GAMES

Gordon,Stephen (2102) - Mannion,Stephen (2400)
Heywood op (5), 23.06.2003
1 c4 Nf6 2 g3 e5 3 Bg2 c6 4 d4 exd4 5 Qxd4 Na6 6 Nf3 Bc5 7 Qe5+ Be7 8 0-0 0-0 9 Nc3 Re8 10 Qf4 d6 11 b3 Qa5 12 Bb2 Qh5 13 Rad1 Nc5 14 Rfe1 Bg4 15 Nd4 Rad8 16 f3 Bc8 17 e4 Bf8 18 g4 Qe5 19 Qd2 Qe7 20 Nf5 Qc7 21 Kh1 h6 22 g5 hxg5 23 Qxg5 Bxf5 24 Qxf5 Re5 25 Qf4 Ne6 26 Qg3 Rg5 27 Qf2 Nf4 28 Rg1 N6h5 29 Ne2 Nxe2 30 Qxe2 d5 31 e5 Bc5 32 Qd2 Ng3+ 33 hxg3 Rh5+ 34 Bh3 Bxg1 35 Kg2 Bb6 36 e6 dxc4 37 Qc3 Rg5 38 Rxd8+ Qxd8 39 exf7+ Kxf7 40 Qxc4+ Qd5 41 Qf4+ Kg6 42 Kh2 Qd3 43 Bxg7 Qe2+ 44 Bg2 Rh5+ 0-1

Walton,Alan J (2040) - Lund,D Brett (2248)
Heywood op (5), 23.06.2003
1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 g6 3 Bxf6 exf6 4 e3 Bg7 5 c4 0-0 6 Nc3 f5 7 Nf3 c5 8 d5 Bxc3+ 9 bxc3 d6 10 Bd3 Nd7 11 0-0 Nf6 12 Qc2 Re8 13 Nd2 Qa5 14 Rab1 b6 15 Rfe1 Qa6 16 h3 Bd7 17 Kh2 Kg7 18 Rb2 Re7 19 Qb1 Ba4 20 Rg1 Qa5 21 Qc1 Bd7 22 Rb3 Qa6 23 Qb1 Rae8 24 Nf1 f4 25 exf4 Nxd5 26 cxd5 c4 27 Bxc4 Qxc4 28 Rb4 Qxd5 29 Ne3 Qa5 30 Rd1 Bc6 31 Rxd6 Be4 32 Qb2 f6 33 Qb3 Qc5 34 Rbd4 Qc7 35 Ng4 Rf8 36 Ne3 Ba8 37 Qd1 Qxc3 38 Qg4 Qc5 39 Rd7 Rfe8 40 Rc4 Qh5 41 Qxh5 gxh5 42 Nf5+ 1-0

THE HEYWOOD ADVERTISER MAJOR:
1st = Jim Tennant Smith (Heywood), Chris Vassiliou (Chorlton), R. Wiltshire (Bearsden) 4/5 £117 each
Grading Prize: Dave Patrick (Courier) & Conor Reaney (Preston) 3/5 £10 each;

THE DUNNES STORE HEYWOOD INTERMEDIATE:
1st= Roger Chapman (EEC), R. Clegg (Huddersfield), Tony Pawson (Rose Forgrove), R. taylor (Ashfield) and Rob Tokeley (Nelson) 4/5 £56 each
Grading Prizes: U130-124 Brendan Brown (Clitheroe) and Neil Howe (St. Andrews) 3/5 £10 each & U124 Ilya Baros (Rochdale), M. Cave and Richard Desmendt (Wombwell) 3/5 £7 each

VIRIDOR MINOR
1st Mark Stollery (Nelson) 4.5/5 £140
2nd = Barrie Wadsworth (Halifax), Richard Glover (3C's), John McKeown (Southport), Chris Edwards (Calderdale) and Ed Taylor (Wallasey) 4/5 £20 each
Grading Prizes: 100-90 Brian Shaw (East Cheshire) and Paul Talbot (Knights) £10 each, 89-80 Les Parkinson (Chorley) 3.5/5 £20 79 and under Kenneth Parkin (Nelson) & Clifford Hanson (Nelson) 2.5/5 £10 each

KUMON MATHS NOVICE:
1st Derek Curzon (Chorley) 4.5/5 £50
2nd = Mark Talbot (Knights), Paul Edhouse (Heywood) 4/5 £15 each

Puzzle competition winner: Jim Tennant Smith (Heywood) £10

British Championship Qualifiers: Alan Walton and Robert Taylor

Home Page: www.bcmchess.co.uk