This year’s Hull congress was run alongside a 10-player all-play-all tournament run by the 4NCL. This involved a shift of venue from recent years’ Hymers College (no apostrophe in Hymers – that was the founder’s surname) to the Royal Hotel which is virtually next door to the railway station (and bus station).

Incorporation with the GM norm event apparently precipitated a reduction from 4 sections to 3 in the Hull Congress.

The shift of venue seems to have had a significant impact on the number of entries to the congress, though other factors may also have been involved. Last year entries were 20, 22, 27 and 24 in the Open, Major, Intermediate and Minor sections respectively (total 93). This year there were 39, 51 and 58 entries in the Open Major and Minor respectively (total 148), which is more like what one might hope for.

Games in the GM Norm and Open events could be seen on line on chess24.com.

Entries to the GM norm tournament included one “Yorkshire” player, Richard Palliser, who, as next-to-the-bottom seed, would not be expected to score very highly. However, his round-7 win was interesting and amusing, and can be played through on screen here. The 4NCL website says, “We're indebted to the John Robinson Youth Chess Trust for their financial support on the junior side, and to Hull & District Chess Association, Hull Culture & Leisure, Friends of Chess and the ECF for their financial support for the GM norm tournament.”

Cross-tables for the three Swiss sections and the GM norm tournament can be found via the following links:

on this site	Open	Major	Minor	GM Norm
on ChessResults.com	Open	Major	Minor	GM Norm