Tournament Round-Up

Somewhat lost amidst the frantic end to the latest league season, KCC members have been very active in tournaments recently, and some of the performances were simply too good to pass unrecorded. So here, memory permitting, is a brief guide to those events.

At the end of February, 9 KCC members were in action in the one day Warwick University Rapidplay. In the Open section Javier, on his UK tournament debut, led the way with a score of 5/7 for a share of 5th place, ahead of Bruce B (4.5), Jude (4 - but with individual honours in his encounter with Javier) and, bringing up the rear, Joshua on a rather disappointing 3 pts. Jude was just half a point off the lead after 5 rounds, but went down to two strong Warwick Uni players in the last 2 rounds. The Major section saw two excellent performances by KCC juniors, with Keatan and Dhairya both scoring 4.5/7 to finish in a share of 6th place. Ben, who started as number 1 seed, finished in a tie for 11th, with 4 points. The only intra-KSS clash saw Keatan and Ben draw in Round 1. In the Minor section Patrick and Gregory tied for 23rd (in a field of 52) with a 50% score, while Gregory's dad, Eugene, also took part, but couldn't keep pace with Gregory!

Fast forward to Easter, and the feature event was the 4NCL congress at Daventry. Once again Javier led the way, scoring an excellent unbeaten 5/7 to tie for 3rd place (with GM Nigel Davies amongst others) and finish in the money. Yet again he was paired against Jude, who finished just half a point back in a share of 7th place, but this time the point was shared. Javier drew against GM Keith Arkell, but missed getting a great scalp in time trouble. Jude had some terrific results and was tied first after 5 rounds, but GMs Hebden and Arkell proved too strong in the last two rounds. Our two stars had near identical TPRs at around 2240.  Bruce B finished in 22nd= with 3.5 pts. Meanwhile, the seldom seen Andy Ward was a surprising starter in the U2000 section, where he performed strongly to finish in a share of 4th place with an unbeaten 4.5/7.

As if Javi hasn't brought enough Spanish flavour to proceedings already (and - spoiler alert - there's more to come!), we now come to the annual CCA pilgrimage to the Menorca Open, which this year saw an expanded KCC participation, with Jude, Billy and Keatan all playing, and Paul and Roy in supportive attendance.

The most controversial figure in world chess ....... with GMs Hans Niemann and Max Warmerdam. (Caption unashamedly purloined from Paul!)

The strength of the A Group can be gauged by the fact that Jude ranked only 131st, and Billy was a scarcely believable 194th of 200 starters. Both our junior stars ended up on an excellent 4.5/9, tying for 82-116th places. Jude's high point was the round 8 draw against the 2418 rated Iranian IM Poormosavi, while Billy - with only 1 draw in 9 games! - had an all round strong showing to gain over 100 ELO points.

Jude hobnobbing with the stars (1) - World number 18 Gukesh hopefully passing on a few tips!

Jude hobnobbing with the stars (2) - in play against World Blitz number 13, Vladimir Fedoseev on Board 1 in the Menorca Blitz

Keatan was in the slightly calmer waters of Group B, but also turned in a tremendous performance, as from a starting rank of 39th (of 77) he finished in a tie for 4th place, picking up a very welcome and most deserved Euros 100 for his efforts - not to mention gaining an extraordinary 155 ELO points. A fantastic achievement.

Keatan in the money!

KCC was triply represented in the British Rapidplay Championships, which took place in Bradford on April 15th and 16th, though - no disrespect intended! - our stars stayed at home in preparation for other impending challenges. Joshua headed our raiding party from his starting rank of 41 in a field of 118, supported by Bernard R and Ben who were seeded 71st and 73rd respectively. Josh scored 6/11 to finish in a tie for 35th, with Bernard and Ben a point behind in a tie for 65th. So everyone finished above their seeding position, which is no mean achievement for gentlemen of advancing years amongst a field awash with ferocious juniors. Ben had the star result of the event, with a win over WGM Sheila Jackson. Watch out for this game in a forthcoming Game of the Month feature! But we just have space for another game here, where our much respected Chairman shows just how much he has learnt in his near 50 year association with KCC.

Ben was at it again just 7 days later in Paul's splendid annual CCA Masters Rapidplay. Once again he assembled a strong field, including 2 IMs (Chris Baker and John Cooper) and featuring no less than 6 Kenilworth players in a select field of 14. Notable absentees, though, were Jude - a victim of covid - and myself - serendipitously sight seeing in Copenhagen! Javi, Ben, Bernard C and - welcome back - David Phillips represented the KCC seniors, while Billy and Keatan flew the flag for the juniors. As if taking the scalp of a WGM was not enough, Ben now took down IM John Cooper, though I am informed that the game featured several very strange incidents including missed wins, illegal moves and a big blunder! But who cares? The result is what ultimately counts!

Ben wondering who his next titled victim will be

The event was a big triumph for Javi, who took clear first with 4.5/5 and made off with the lion's share of the cash! His only shared point was against Chris Baker. Inevitably there were plenty of intra-KCC encounters, but hopefully everyone remained friends, whatever the result! Billy got an excellent draw with John Cooper, who afterwards was highly complimentary about the standard of his play.

Who looks the more Spanish?! Javi receives his CCA prize from Paul

Billy and 2 nervous looking IMs (Chris Baker, left, and John Cooper) who have had a glimpse of the future - and seen that it's scary!

Right, nearly there. The LDCL Blitz has already had a separate write up, so no need to go over yet another Javi triumph again, which just leaves the English Seniors, that took place in Leamington over the coronation weekend. Three Kenilworth members went chasing a national title and, unsurprisingly, none of them were successful. Bruce B was the sole representative in a very strong (4 GMs) 50+ section, and played a stormer, losing only to GMs Arkell and Wells. He was agonisingly close to tying for 3rd place, but let a winning position slip in the last round and had to be content with a still excellent 5th= in scoring 4.5/7. This was the same score I managed in the 65+ section, which also put me in 5th=, but after a much easier tournament than Bruce. Ed finished just half a point back, but had every reason to be satisfied with a tie for 11th given a starting rank of 21st.

No song after all that. I'm totally shattered!