Cleveland Congress
Joint Open Champions:Paul Hutchinson
Robert Shaw
Major Champion:David Baillie
Minor Champion:Peter Harker
Novice Champion:Lee Blood
 

Cleveland Congress

held at the Hillcarter Hotel, Hartlepool
on 4th - 6th February 2005


Open Major Minor Novice

The Cleveland Chess Congress was held for the second year running in the Hillcarter Hotel in Hartlepool. There was a good turnout of over 70 chessplayers competing in the four sections and the final prize fund was almost as advertised on the entry form:

Open - 1st £180 2nd £90 3rd £45. Grading prize - £20 for best player under 175
Major - 1st £160 2nd £80 3rd £40. Grading prize - £25 for best player under 130
Minor - 1st £140 2nd £70 3rd £35. Grading prizes - £25 for best player under 90 and under 70.
Novice - 1st £60 2nd £30 3rd £10.

Novice section
The Congress was held in the rooftop restaurant this year and it proved large enough to hold all the sections plus an area set aside for the arbiters, who were Lara Barnes of the Northumberland Chess Association and BCF Senior Arbiter Alex McFarlane. However the lighting within the restaurant proved poor at times and extra lamps had to be brought in during the evenings to assist the chessplayers.

The time limits for the Open, Major and Minor sections were 40 moves in 1hr. 50 mins, followed by a 25 minute quickplay finish. The novices had a quicker time limit - 65 minutes per player per game - and this enabled each player to play their opponent twice during each round.

The tournament ended at 7pm on the Sunday evening with Mr Marshall and Mr McFarlane presenting the cheques to the winners.

The Open

For the third year running Robert Shaw (High Peak) finished top of the Open section but, unlike the previous year, he had to share the prize-money with Paul Hutchinson (White Rose), who also scored 4/5. Both players picked up £135 each. Two finished in joint third with 3½/5 - David Armbruster (Sunderland) and Jimmy Simpson (Hetton Lyons & Peterlee) each picked up £25. John Garnett (Elmwood) won the under 175 grading prize with a score of 3/5.

Robert Shaw (right) v Jimmy Simpson
Round 3
Robert was the joint highest rated player in the tournament and he had the satisfaction of remaining unbeaten throughout the weekend, only dropping draws against Jimmy Simpson in round 3 and local boy Bret Addison in the final round.

Paul finished his tournament with three straight wins against John Allott, Thomas Eggleston and Jimmy Simpson but lost in round two against Tim Adams from Tyneside.

Congratulations to all the prize-winners in the Open - check out a selection of Robert's games and a fine win by Jimmy Simpson from round 2 in the Best games section.


The full results from the Open can be seen below:

 Open section - 15 entries

Grade

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 3

Rd 4

Rd 5

Pts
4. Paul Hutchinson White Rose 187 14 7 13 5 15 4

1

 0 1 1 1

1.

 Robert Shaw High Peak 196 8 11 15 3 2 4

1

1

 ½

1

½
9. David Armbruster Sunderland 161 2 8 7 15 5 3½
½ 1 1 0 1
15. Jimmy Simpson Hetton Lyons
Peterlee		 190 13 5 1 9 4 3½
1 1 ½ 1 0
2. Bret Addison Hartlepool 196 9 12 5 10 1

3
½

1

 0 1

½
3. David Eggleston Durham City 195 11 14 6 1 7 3
0 1 1 0 1
11. John Garnett Elmwood 155 3 1 Bye 7 14 3
1 0 ½ ½ 1
13. John Allott Pittington 137 15 Bye 4 6 10 2½
0 1 0 1 ½
7. Tim Adams Eldon Leisure 164 Bye 4 9 11 3 2
½ 1 0 ½ 0
5. Thomas Eggleston Durham City 183 Bye 15 2 4 9 2
1 0 1 0 0
14. Alan Lau Redcar 130 4 3 Bye 12 11 2
0 0 1 1 0
10. Ray Stonehouse Hartlepool 157 Bye 6 12 2 13 2
½ ½ ½ 0 ½
6. David Edmunds Redcar 170 Bye 10 3 13 12 1½
½ ½ 0 0 ½
12. Nigel Hall Hetton Lyons 152

Bye

 2 10 14 6 1½

½

 0 ½

0

 ½
8. Douglas McKerracher Harrogate 163 1 9 - - - 0/2
0

0

 - - -

The Major (U151)

David Baillie
Major Champion
David Baillie of Redcar chess club won the Major section outright with a score of 4½/5. He was ½ point ahead of Brian Ings (Durham City) and a full point clear of three in joint third place - Robert Dean (Pudsey), Ron Plater (King's) and James Turner (Morpeth).

David picked up £160 in prize-money, Brian won £80 and the three in joint third each picked up £13.34.

Well done to David who only dropped the one draw in round 3 against Jonathan Ayres. It was his first Congress win since the 20th Redcar Congress of January 2000. Brian also remained unbeaten after five rounds but, unfortunately for him, dropped two draws in rounds 2 and 3 and he was always that ½ point behind the leaders as the tournament progressed.

Finally three shared the Under 130 grading prize - Matthew Cornford (M'Bro.), Amy Officer (Carse of Gowrie) and Bernie Price of Hartlepool chess club each picked up £8.34 for a score of 3/5.

Check out the Major below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Major section - 23 entries

Grade

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 3

Rd 4

Rd 5

Pts
2. David Baillie Redcar 140 13 10 7 8 4 4½
1 1 ½ 1 1
12. Brian Ings Durham City 129 Bye 5 3 23 18 4
1 ½ ½ 1 1
10. Robert Dean Pudsey 131 21 2 1 20 3 3½
1 0 ½ 1 1
5. Ron Plater King's 138 15 12 11 4 8 3½
1 ½ 1 0 1
4. James Turner Morpeth 139 Bye 19 20 5 2 3½
½ 1 1 1 0
16. Matthew Cornford M'Bro. 120 6 8 Bye 3 11 3
1 ½ ½ ½ ½
11. Hasnul Hashim Rose Forgrove 130 23 3 5 1 16 3
1 ½ 0 1 ½
21. Amy Officer Carse of Gowrie 106 10 14 18 15 19 3
0 1 0 1 1
18. Bernie Price Athenaeum
Hartlepool		 119 Bye 1 21 7 12 3
½ ½ 1 1 0
9. Alan Trotter Elmwood 131 19 20 14 17 23 3
½ 0 ½ 1 1
8. Collin Smith Peterlee 135 17 16 15 2 5 2½
1 ½ 1 0 0
3. Les Wells Harrogate 140 14 11 12 16 10 2½
1 ½ ½ ½ 0
19. Gagik Abaryan Gateshead Libs. 115 9 4 22 6 21 2
½ 0 1 ½ 0
7. Jonathan Ayres Scarborough 136 Bye 22 2 18 - 2/4
½ 1 ½ 0 -
6. Stephen Carter Peterlee 137 16 17 23 19 20 2
0 1 0 ½ ½
15. Michael Creaney Bill. Synthonia 121 5 Bye 8 21 17 2
0 1 0 0 1
1. Stephen Hall Hetton Lyons 150 Bye 18 10 11 14 2
½ ½ ½ 0 ½
20. Kyle Kinnie Darlington 115 Bye 9 4 10 6 2
½ 1 0 0 ½
14. Bob Mitcheson Wallsend 125 3 21 9 22 1 2
0 0 ½ 1 ½
13. Brian Robinson Bishop Auckland 127 2 23 17 Bye 22 2
0 0 0 1 1
23. Brian Whitaker Bill. Synthonia 91 11 13 6 12 9 2
0 1 1 0 0
17. Jim Rogers Athenaeum 119 8 6 13 9 15 1
0 0 1 0 0
22. Steven Aitchison Tynemouth 100 Bye 7 19 14 13 ½
½ 0 0 0 0

The Minor (U111)
Peter Harker
Minor Champion

There was an astonishing result in the Minor section with one of the lowest graded players storming through the weekend to finish with 5/5 - the only player at the Congress to achieve the perfect score. Well done to Peter Harker of Hartlepool Chess club who won £140 in prize-money. Two players finished in second with 4/5 - Ian Hurn (Guisborough) and John Reddington (Peterlee) shared £105 in prize-money.

It was Peter's first Congress win and, on that sort of form, it surely won't be long before he wins another. His grading performance for the tournament is around 150 and that from a player who is 'only' currently graded at 72! He finished his fifth round game in particularly fine style, winning the game in six moves after his opponent blundered a Rook!

There were two grading prizes in this section - the Under 90 prize was won by Kenny Boxall of Peterlee chess club and the Under 70 prize went to John Eddershaw of Sheffield. Both players scored 3/5.

Well done to all the prize-winners in the Minor and you can play through a selection of games in the Best games section.

Minor section - final table:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Minor section - 28 entries

Grade

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 3

Rd 4

Rd 5

Pts

18.

 Peter Harker Hartlepool 72 4 6 3 7 2 5
1 1 1 1 1
15. Ian Hurn Guisborough 80 Bye 5 20 3 13 4
1 0 1 1 1
6. John Reddington Peterlee 99 22 18 16 17 5 4
1 0 1 1 1
4. Bob Berry Bishop Auckland 101 18 22 23 27 26 3½
0 ½ 1 1 1
2. Dave Peardon Hetton Lyons 106 17 13 5 26 18 3½
1 ½ 1 1 0
7. Geoff Shearing Eldon Leisure 95 29 9 1 18 11 3½
1 1 1 0 ½
9. Sri Sriharan York R.I. 90 Bye 7 22 8 3 3½
½ 0 1 1 1
13. Kenny Boxall Peterlee 83 25 2 8 1 15 3
1 ½ ½ 1 0
25. John Eddershaw Sheffield 60 13 17 29 28 14 3
0 0 1 1 1
8. Colin Gilroy Gateshead Libs. 92 23 21 13 9 16 3
½ 1 ½ 0 1
5. Graham Marshall Hartlepool 101 20 15 2 14 6 3
1 1 0 1 0
11. John Renwick M'Bro. 90 Bye 23 26 19 7 3
½ 1 0 1 ½
1. Peter Smith Bishop Auckland 107 16 14 7 13 17 3
1 1 0 0 1
27. Bernard Callaghan Bill. Synthonia 51 Bye 20 21 4 10 2½
½ 0 1 0 1
26. Graham Edwards Bill. Synthonia 60 Bye 29 11 2 4 2½
½ 1 1 0 0
22. Edward Farrington Darlington 65 6 4 9 20 24 2
0 ½ 0 ½ 1
16. Walter Greenwood Bill. Synthonia 76 1 24 6 10 8 2
0 1 0 1 0
19. Mike Hardy Guisborough 70 3 28 14 11 29 2
0 1 0 0 1
3. Graham Matthews Hartlepool 103 19 10 18 15 9 2
1 1 0 0 0
21. William Metcalfe Darlington 66 Bye 8 27 23 20 2
½ 0 0 ½ 1
14. William Pritchard M'Bro. 81 28 1 19 5 25 2
1 0 1 0 0
17. Bill Wilson Hartlepool 75 2 25 10 6 1 2
0 1 1 0 0
23. Frank Boagey Hartlepool 63 8 11 4 21 28 1½
½ 0 0 ½ ½
20. Fred Stobbart Hetton Lyons 67 5 27 15 22 21 1½
0 1 0 ½ 0
10. Thomas O'Carroll Bishop Auckland 90 24 3 17 16 27 1
1 0 0 0 0
24. Michael Officer Carse of Gowrie 61 10 16 28 29 22 1
0 0 1 0 0
29. Mark Priest Hartlepool 35 7 26 25 24 19 1
0 0 0 1 0
28. Bill McAlpine Hartlepool 48 14 19 24 25 23 ½
0 0 0 0 ½

The Novice (U66) - time limits: 65 mins per player per game

 The Novice section only attracted eight entries but it proved very competitive with Lee Blood (Gateshead Libs.) winning the section with 8/10. He was a point clear of David Castle of Guisborough chess club and Kim Hutchinson (White Rose) was third with 6½/10. Lee picked up £60, David won £30 and Kim a tenner - congratulations to all three.

Novice section - final table:

 Novice section - 8 entries

Grade

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 3

Rd 4

Rd 5

Rd 6

Rd 7

Rd 8

Rd 9

Rd 10

Pts
3. Lee Blood Gateshead Libs. 58 4 8 1 6 2 8
1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 ½ ½
1. David Castle Guisborough 64 5 6 3 2 4 7
1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 0 1
4. Kim Hutchinson White Rose 41 3 5 8 7 1 6½
0 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
6. David Wells Harrogate - Bye 1 2 3 5 6
1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 0 0 1 1
2. Glenn Parkin Bishop Auckland 60 Bye 7 6 1 3 5
½ ½ 1 1 0 1 0 0 ½ ½
5. Susan Hutchinson White Rose 5 1 4 7 Bye 6 4
0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 0 0
7. Paul Scott Gateshead Libs. - 8 2 5 4 Bye 3½
1 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 1
8. Jonathan Godfrey Hartlepool - 7 3 4 - - 1/6
0 1 0 0 0 0 - - - -