You Wait Ages for a 2700 GM and Then 3 of Them Come Along at Once

The English Championships are under way at the Holiday Inn and Kenilworth has been graced by the presence of not one, not two, but three GMs rated over 2700 ECF. This must be the strongest collection of chess players Kenilworth has ever seen!

Fresh from his slaughter of the innocents at the recent KCC 50th Anniversary Simultaneous Display, Mickey Adams has quickly returned to Kenilworth as the number 2 seed, with an ECF rating of 2726, and following a Round 4 win over number 3 seed Gawain Jones (rated a mere 2723!) has assumed sole leadership as I write with a 100% score. Trailing half a point behind is number one seed, and 2021 Russian Champion, Nikita Vitiugov (2746).  A potentially decisive round 5 encounter between the top two seeds is scheduled for Sunday morning.

Round 1 underway, with Nikita Vitiugov White on Board 1, Mickey Adams Black on Board 2, and Gawain Maroroa Jones on Board 3 nearest the camera (left)

Three of Kenilworth's finest are also in action, with Jude currently leading the way on an undefeated 3/4 after some excellent games. He faces IM Brandon Clarke in Round 5. Keatan and Billy are both on 1.5 pts at the moment, though Keatan will be the happier of the two given his very strong opposition so far. Billy has suffered two White losses which have derailed his progress, but lets hope for a strong finish in the last 3 rounds. We can in any case be massively proud that three of our juniors are mixing it in this ferociously strong tournament. Keep going guys!

Its Hot and Cold as Club Quickplay Championship Begins

It was 29 degrees centigrade in Kenilworth yesterday, as the first of three legs of the new Kenilworth Quickplay Championship got underway. Inside the Holiday Inn, though, it was decidedly parky, as the air conditioning was seemingly turned up to 11 and frostbite, rather than heatstroke, was the more likely affliction for the 12 players who contested a 7 round (slow) Blitz (5" + 2'). There should have been 14 players but Rhys (unwell) and Joshua (who knows!?) were late withdrawals.  But all twelve starters would surely agree with Little Feat that "it was freezing cold in that hotel!" Great version here, with Bonnie Raitt on guest vocals.

The tournament was only able to function smoothly thanks to Gregory, our 14 year old National Arbiter, who was able to set things up on Swiss Manager and handle the pairings, results and grading functions with an ease which made both Ben and I very embarrassed after our own pathetic attempts to master the software!

Javi started off as hot favourite, but something went very wrong in Round 2 when he contrived to lose on time against me, in a probably winning endgame - though as he pointed out to me afterwards, I had missed the one move win of a piece earlier! This put me, Mike and Dave in the early lead but somehow I then just kept on winning, getting myself to 6/6. Before the last round, Javi had recovered to lie in second place on 5 pts, with Dhairya and Ben back in a tie for third on 3.5.

The last round pairing had me as Black against Ben, and all I needed for victory was a draw, but as this is a three leg event, with the best 2 results on game points counting, I decided that it was more important to go for broke rather than try and wimp out with a draw. (Which Ben may not have accepted, of course!) You can all guess what happened next. Ben played a monster game and took several of my pawns before annexing a piece and then delivering mate. Brutal!

Of course, Javi then won his Round 7 encounter with Dhairya to catch me on 6 points. Ben's demolition job on me meant he finished in clear third place on 4.5. But this is just the first of three events, so there's plenty of twists that might happen yet - and the tournament winner might even not have played a single game yet! Who knows who might turn up for events 2 (Rapid) and 3 (another Blitz)? BTW you can play one of these events without being a member of the ECF, but you won't be allowed to play in a second without at least Bronze membership.

So the future dates for your diary are July 31st for leg 2 and August 28th for the potentially decisive leg 3. By the way, there will be a prize of £25 to the overall winner, and £25 to the best placed player under ...... a rating yet to be decided by Ben. Though on the evidence of yesterday's field, the rating cap will possibly be in the vicinity of 1700. Anyway, no need to panic yet as Ben will be in touch with everyone to take entries before each of the two remaining legs.  In the meantime I will enjoy my position as joint leader while it lasts - which will be until July 31st!