This year’s Huddersfield Congress was once again held at the Huddersfield Ukrainian Club, 7 Edgerton Road, Huddersfield. Entries were down on last year, with a total of 60 players competing.

Huddersfield has only three sections, Open, Major (U-166) and Minor (126), but is “bigger” than other congresses in the area by virtue of having six rounds rather than five: one on Friday night, THREE on Saturday, and two on Sunday. A number of players took byes in rounds 1 and 4. Sam Parry of Cheddleton took byes in all the first 4 rounds, playing only on the Sunday!

Six rounds mean most players will get equal numbers of Whites and Blacks, though there is the looming spectre of two players having a 4:2 (or 2:4) colour split due to pairing constraints. Getting four Blacks to two Whites is not popular with most players. For instance, Mike Surtees in the Open had Black in each or the last three rounds.

Another benefit of six rounds is that the standard of play in round five may be higher due to less time spent in the pub on Saturday night. On the other hand, others may not have recovered from Saturday’s three games on the trot.

Another unusual feature of the Huddersfield Congress is that there is no limit on how many half-point byes a player may take.

For detailed results see:

Open Section

Major Section

Minor Secton