19th - 21st January 2024
Special Report from the 4NCL 31st Chess Congress
Congress Report
Two of our club members travelled to the beautiful Spa town of Harrogate over the weekend to compete in the 31st 4NCL hosted chess congress held at the Black Swan. Ian Mitchell and Con Carey were our players hoping to create waves both playing in the U1700 section.
Round 1
On the Friday evening Ian Mitchel began with the white pieces against another English player by the name of Steve Robinson and got off to a strong start taking the full point. With the black pieces Con Carey couldn't quite manage to hold on and suffered an early defeat at the hands of Charlie Wainwright who was rated some 150 points higher.
Round 2
In the crisp morning light of Saturday it Con missed out on the white pieces not having been paired. Ian experienced his first defeat of the tournament with the black pieces against Toby Quaite who was rated nearly 80 points higher.
Round 3
At the evening game Con was finally awarded the white pieces and the win against Michael Simmons from Sheffield and Ian, also with white, took another win, this time from the hands of Stanley Johnson of the South Shields club.
By the close of play on the day Con was ranked in joint 28th position from the field of 68 with 1.5 from 3 and Ian stood at joint 10th with 2 from 3.
Round 4
Following a few rejuvenative beverages on Saturday evening our players made there way to the playing hall pictured above for the final day of play. Con took his second win of the tournament against Andrew Pringle of Maryport and Ian used the black pieces to full effect managing a win against Neville Pearce of the brilliantly named Ye Olde Starre Inne chess club in York.
Round 5
By this point Ian was ranked joint 3rd just a single point behind joint 1st and Con had moved up to joint 10th.
For the final game Ian had the white pieces and was hoping a win might put him into the prize positions however strong play Robert Jackson meant Ian's final score for the tournament was 3 from 5.
Meanwhile with the black pieces Con fared no better suffering defeat at the hands of Neal Fisher of Peterborough. To be fair Neal was significantly higher rated and so Con finished with a score of 2.5.
Final ranking positions were Con on joint 28th and Ian in joint 18th. Well done to both of our players who put up a really strong showing.