| The following is a personal perspective of the Newcastle Chess Congress held in February 2005. As these notes were written some three weeks after the tournament some of my recollections may be hazy. |
| Day 1. Saturday 12 February. |
| Due to a combination of the weather and the previous night’s consumption of alcohol, it was a wet and windy start to the day. Three of our club members had decided to pit their wits against North Staffordshire’s finest: John Amison; Carl Mustafa our ‘B’ team captain; and I. Andy Stott came along to lend us his support.
Unfortunately he had left it in the wash so he just came along to see how we were doing! John had entered the under 120 section while Carl and I were slumming it in the under 90 section. All three of us got off to a reasonable start. I had an easy (ish) win against Newcastle junior Carl Gawley, Carl. Sitting on the next table drew against Kidsgrove’s Robert Brock and John finished up with a headache and half a point after a marathon game with John Blackburn. The highlight of the first session was Robert Brock getting confused and continually pressing my clock instead of his own. Matters came to a head when my opponent moved and forgot to press his clock. As I sat waiting for him to realize his mistake, Robert leant over and pressed it for him!!
|
| After a quick lunch it was on to round two. Mixed fortunes this time as I played out a rather timid draw with another Newcastle player, James Rothwell. Carl lost against Anne-Marie Moruzzi, and it was up to John to save face with a win against Peter Shaw.
All three of us decide to sit out the evening session and claim a half point bye, I don’t know what feeble excuse the others had, but I had a very important appointment in the pub.
|
| Day2. Sunday 13 February. |
| A lift up to Newcastle from Andy meant I was unable to use the city’s extremely efficient and regular public transport system. Round four was another happy one as Carl won against son of the phantom clock pusher, Oliver Brock and I managed to scrape a win against Carl’s second round opponent from the day before, John obtained a good draw against Stephen Lloyd from Nantwich.
The final session (that’s round five for those who have not yet lost the will to live) soon came round and we were all still in with a chance of nabbing a prize. However I went home penniless after playing a rather hopeless opening and losing to eventual section winner Megan Moruzzi. John also lost against Robert Moruzzi, who also won his section. However Carl managed to pocket some cash by beating Eddie Burke from the Creda club. His two wins on the final day ensured he won a prize as the best ‘late starter’! So congratulations Carl.
All in all a pretty successful tournament for the three Fentonians and a special ‘Well done’ to John and Carl who were playing in their first ever Congress.
|
| Congratulations to all the section winners and a special mention to Martyn Harris for organizing a very successful event. I hope we see more of the same next year. |
| A full report by Martyn Harris can be found here. |
| |
