|
42nd Blackpool Chess Congess
(actually called “Conference” rather than
“Congress”)
was held at The Imperial Hotel Blackpool,
North Promenade, Blackpool, FY1 2HB,
from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th March 2018.
This
annual event is one of the two largest of its kind “in t’North”. They
each fluctuate from year to year around the same numbers of
participants. Curiously, the ordinal numbers of this and the other of
the two largest, that in Scarborough, are the same in a given calendar year,
41st in 2017 and 42nd in 2018, thus both presumably started in 1977, with
Blackpool being the older by about seven months.
This
year’s Blackpool event had 342 participants, distributed across 5 sections as
follows:
|
Section:
|
Open
|
Major
|
Intermediate
|
Minor
|
Standard
|
|
Grading
limit:
|
(none)
|
U-181
|
U-151
|
U135
|
U-115
|
|
Participants:
|
45
|
49
|
76
|
72
|
100
|
Roughly
51 participants (15%) were Yorkshire players, though which Lancashire players
who play in the Yorkshire league one should include in such a total is
uncertain.
Yorkshire
was not too strongly represented in the Open section, with a number of
habitual congress-players conspicuous by their absence. In each other
section, however, Yorkshire players captured place prizes, with Tony
Slinger (York) 2nd-3rd= in the Major, David Shapland (Bradford)
1st-2nd= in the Intermediate, Dale Cullum (West Leeds) 1st-2nd= in the
Minor, and Kevin Randle (Aughton) 2nd-3rd= in the strangely named
Standard section.
The
following is a list of results achieved by various Yorkshire players:
|
Section
|
Name
|
Club/Location
|
Place
|
Score
|
|
Open
|
Richard
Allis
|
Moortown
|
8-14=
|
2
|
|
Andrew
Bak
|
Pudsey
|
15-30=
|
1.5
|
|
John
P Wareing
|
Calderdale
|
|
Christopher
Bak
|
Bradford
|
42-45=
|
0
|
|
Major
|
Anthony
J Slinger
|
Undercliffe
|
2-3=
|
4
|
|
Firas
Almazedi
|
Alwoodley
|
4-12=
|
3.5
|
|
Mate
Ther
|
Harrogate
|
13-18=
|
3
|
|
Robert
Clegg
|
Huddersfield
|
19-29=
|
2.5
|
|
Mark
A Whitehead
|
Rochdale&Calderdale
|
|
Robert
A Dean
|
Pudsey
|
30-40=
|
2
|
|
Richard
D Hardy
|
Moortown
|
|
Richard
J Webster
|
Calderdale
|
|
David
A Patrick
|
Courier
Halifax
|
41-45=
|
1.5
|
|
Intermediate
|
David
Shapland
|
Bradford
|
1-2=
|
4.5
|
|
Richard
E Desmedt
|
Barnsley
|
7-15=
|
3.5
|
|
David
Wells
|
York
RI
|
|
Leslie
Wells
|
York
RI
|
|
Gordon
Farrar
|
Halifax
|
16-27=
|
3
|
|
Neville
R Pearce
|
York
RI
|
|
John
Woollard
|
Sheffield
Nomads
|
|
Richard
L Bowman
|
Keighley
|
28-41=
|
2.5
|
|
Siefaldin
A Holi
|
Wakefield
|
|
Chris
R Tinker
|
Wakefield
|
|
Norman
G Andrews
|
York
RI
|
42-60=
|
2
|
|
Bruce
R Oliver
|
Hull
|
|
Elliott
Spencer
|
Ecclesall
|
|
Vivien
Webster
|
Calderdale
|
|
Steven
L Watson
|
Hull
|
68-75=
|
1
|
|
David
Teague
|
Harrogate
|
76th
|
0
|
|
Minor
|
Dale
H Cullum
|
West
Leeds
|
1-2=
|
4.5
|
|
Alec
Grice
|
Hull
|
6-17=
|
3.5
|
|
Geoff
J Ainsley
|
Calderdale
|
18-30=
|
3
|
|
Paul
Gelder
|
Alwoodley
|
|
Darren
McCarthy
|
Rose
Forgrove
|
31-40=
|
2.5
|
|
Ian
D Strickland
|
West
Leeds
|
|
Derek
Toyne
|
York
RI
|
|
Andrew
Zigmond
|
Harrogate
|
41-54=
|
2
|
|
Standard
|
Kevin
Randle
|
Aughton
|
2-3=
|
4.5
|
|
Josephine
Woollard
|
Sheffield
Nomads
|
9-21=
|
3.5
|
|
Alan
R Gardner
|
Doncaster
|
22-37=
|
3
|
|
Peter
Gregory
|
Harrogate
|
|
Barry
Fulthorpe
|
Limewood&Scarcroft
|
38-59=
|
2.5
|
|
R
Malcolm Hara
|
Beverley
|
|
John
Light
|
Leeds
|
|
David
Summerland
|
Leeds
|
|
Sylvan
Clarke
|
Alwoodley
|
60-78=
|
2
|
|
John H T Eddershaw
|
Ecclesall
|
|
Kenneth
L Marsden
|
Leeds
|
|
John
Wheatley
|
Harrogate
|
79-85=
|
1.5
|
|
Michael
Snowdon
|
Rotherham
|
86-93=
|
1
|
|
Richard
Wood
|
Ecclesall
|
97-100=
|
0
|
|