The 2018 4NCL Harrogate (partially) FIDE-rated weekend chess congress was held from Friday 19/01/2018 to Sunday 21/01/2018 at The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, Swan Road, Harrogate, HG1 2SR, with three sections:

Open

FIDE‑rated

with 37

participants

click here for

cross-table

Won by Mark Hebden

with 4½ out of 5

Major

FIDE‑rated

with 55

participants

click here for

cross-table

U-2000 FIDE or

U175 ECF (if no FIDE rating)

Won by Roger de Coverly

with 4½ out of 5

Minor

with 44

participants

click here for

cross-table

ECF Under 135 ECF

Won by Peter Owst (Hull)

with 4½ out of 5

136 participants

in all

Prizes indicated in the cross-tables are as published on http://www.4ncl.co.uk/fide/prizewinners_17.htm, where they were not fully posted when consulted.

As the snow started to fall over parts of the North, some of the faint-hearted who had too modest a score to offer hope of a prize sloped off home early. Eleven of those who played in round 4 absented themselves without playing in the final round.

The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate

The venue is on the site of an original “Swan Hotel”, supposedly built in 1700. The present structure dates from a rebuild in about 1820, recorded as “Swan Inn” in 1822. It became “The Harrogate Hydro” in 1887, when some extensions were made, and later “The Swan Hydropathic Hotel”. It acquired its present name, “The Old Swan Hotel”, in the 1950s. It has some claims to fame.

It was supposedly the first building in Harrogate to be lit by electric light, with its own steam-driven generator, using coke from the local gas works.

In 1926, Agatha Christie “disappeared” from her home. Her husband was seeking a divorce, having established a relationship with a Nancy Neele. Agatha Christe left the marital home, “Styles”, in Sunningdale, Berkshire, leaving a note to say she’d gone to Yorkshire. She had in fact booked into the Swan Hydropathic Hotel, somewhat enigmatically under the assumed name of Mrs Teresa Neele (her husband’s mistress’s surname). There was a brief but intense high-profile search for her, and her cover was blown by a hotel musician who recognised her.

It became a Grade II listed building on 04/02/1975.

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