22^nd Redcar Congress

held at Coatham Memorial Hall, Coatham, Redcar
on 25^th - 27^th January 2002

Open Intermediate Minor

This year the Redcar Congress returned to the Coatham Memorial Hall after an absence of one year. The total entry was down again with only 85 entries across the three sections - 10 down on last year. This downturn in the entry has been mirrored at Congresses around the country and Redcar has been no exception in this respect. However Mr Walsh, who officiated as usual at the event, decided to pay the prize money as advertised on the entry form:

Open 1^st £200, 2^nd £150, 3^rd £75 with one grading prize of £25 for the best player under 170.
Intermediate 1^st £140, 2^nd £90, 3^rd £45 with one grading prize of £25 for the best player under 130.
Minor 1^st £120, 2^nd £80, 3^rd £45 with two grading prizes of £25 each for the best players under 90 and under 70. There was also a junior prize of £25 in this section.

The Memorial Hall is an excellent venue for chess-playing although the high ceilings and lights do make the room a touch gloomy during the evening sessions. The hall is decorated with wood panelling and at one end there is a stage with a boxing ring erected on it, used by the Redcar Amateur Boxing club for their weekly punch-ups. Refreshments were available for the players and spectators in a side-room away from the main playing hall which also doubled up as the analysis room. Once again the Congress was generously supported by Specsavers Opticians of Redcar who have sponsored the event for a number of years now.

The Open section was won for the second year running by Jimmy Simpson, (Hetton Lyons) who went ½ point better than last year and scored 5/5. The Redcar sea-air clearly agrees with Mr Simpson who beat Norman Stephenson (Guisborough) in round 1, Malcolm Armstrong (Stafford) in round 2, Martin Mitchell (Berwick) in round 3, Michael Round (Rose Forgrove) in round 4 and John Garnett (Elmwood) in the last round. Well done to Mr Simpson who finished a full 1½ points ahead of second place.

Malcolm Armstrong (Sheffield), David Eggleston (Durham City) and Martin Mitchell (Berwick) all scored 3½ points to finish joint second. The U170 Grading prize of £25 was won by Thomas Eggleston (Durham City).

The full results of the Open are below:

Douglas M^cKerracher (Harrogate) won this section with a score of 4½/5. His only blemish was a draw in round 2 against David Richardson (M'Bro.). He beat the long-time leader Simon M^cGuinness (South Shields) in the last round and the Durham player had to settle for second place with 4 points. No fewer than five players were joint third on 3½ points - David Baillie (Redcar), R.A. Dean (Pudsey), Sam Essen (Leeds), Jonathan Hawkins (Consett) and Eddie Hurwitz (Rose Forgrove). The Under 130 Grading prize was won by Mike Creaney of Billingham Synthonia with 3/5.

Check out the Intermediate section below:

The Minor finished in a two-way tie for first place between Matthew Jackman (M'Bro.) and John Reddington (Peterlee), who both scored 4½ points from the 5 rounds. Matthew didn't drop any points over the board, preferring to take a bye on the Saturday afternoon. John also took a bye on the Friday night but was a little fortunate to win his final round against Peter Smith of Bishop Auckland chess club. He was actually a piece down at one stage but fought back to level-pegging. However the endgame didn't seem to favour either player but against all the odds John won the game and a share of £200 prize money.

Two other Cleveland players were joint second on 4/5 - Brian Clark (Upper Eskdale) and Steve Henderson (Billingham). Ken Boxall (Peterlee) won the Under 90 grading prize with a score of 3½/5 and there was three-way tie for the Under 70 grading prize between Dave Parlour (South Shields), Andrew Watts (Guisborough) and B. Whitaker (M'Bro.), who all scored 2½ points.