As pyramids are wider at the base than at the top, so the Intermediate and Minor sections of chess congresses tend to attract the most entries and so it was at Thanet this year. 25 entered the Intermediate and almost exactly half of all players took part in one of the two lowest sections. Although competition was close throughout the weekend, Colin Gregory, our not-so-old friend from Margate Chess Club, emerged as the clear winner by half a point. A close examination of his results will show that this was no fluke – he took a bye in the first round, won the next three and agreed a draw in round five which was all he needed to win outright. Furthermore, all his opponents finished in the top seven with the result that Colin achieved a grading performance of 162! Here is his round 2 victory and his opponent’s only defeat.
White: Colin Gregory (119) Black: Lee Bullock (128)
Thanet Intermediate 2018
Players who took part in the Thanet Congress were invited to send in games they thought were worthy of a wider audience and I am grateful to Stephen Appleby of Wimborne for doing just that. Stephen is a Thanet regular who finished joint second in last year’s Challengers tournament. He has submitted a game he played along with an apology to his opponent, Peter McGill, who has already featured in the earlier Challengers game that he lost to Edward Gray. However, it should be remembered that Peter won the Major section last year when he kindly sent in one of his best games. Peter, if you read this, I should be happy to publish your win from this year’s tournament.
White: Peter McGill (149) (155) Black: Stephen Appleby (161)
Thanet Challengers 2018
The Challengers was a very competitive section with 19 strong players including some very promising juniors. One of these, Edward Gray (Sussex Juniors), shared first place with Anthony Lee (Oxford City) with 4/5. Edward has played a great deal of chess during the summer and was selected to play for the ECF England Junior Chess Squad at the European Schools Chess Championships in Krakow in July. Last year he came third in the Thanet Major behind Peter McGill. This year it was Edward who finished higher and Peter was one of his victims on his path to glory.
White: Edward Gray (155) Black: Peter McGill (149)
Thanet Challengers 2018
John congratulating David Pinch
The Major tournament was the smallest section within the Thanet Congress and, not surprisingly, the closest where everyone seemed capable of beating everyone else (unless you have a weekend like your correspondent and fail to win a game). Consequently, there was a four-way tie for first place and only 1½ points separating top from bottom. Rob Woolacott was one of the winners and as a member of Swale Chess Club, he wins the title of Kent Major Champion. As a former member of Folkestone Chess Club, Rob’s victory should count as yet another triumph for the Thanet and East Kent Chess League. The other winners were Ian Cross (St Albans), Phil Foley (Upminster) and David Pinch (Steynton) who drove all the way from Wales to play at the congress.
“I play for my club in the Dyfed League (West Wales). Steynton is a village outside Milford Haven. We play against teams as far afield as Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Carmarthen. Our club has no good players, all mediocre at my level, so I play board 1 or 2. Cardigan board 1 is Howard Williams, 18 times Welsh Champion, board 2 is Iolo Jones, one-time Welsh Champion and currently a Wales over-65 International, Carmarthen board 1 is Gerry Heap, current Welsh Champion. I have to play all of these and others similar. I really enjoyed the tournament, there was a nice friendly atmosphere. At the moment I am intending to come next year.”
White: David Smith (119) Black: David Pinch (146)
Thanet Major 2018
It’s always a pleasure to see local players winning at the Thanet Congress and once again Broadstairs’ own Reg Pidduck collected the Oyster Shield for the highest score (3½ points in the Minor) by a Thanet League player aged over 60 in either the Minor or Intermediate sections. This is the fourth consecutive year that Reg has won the award and the sixth time in all. Well done, Reg! Here he is (left) being given the shield and congratulated by the Gullbuster, John Couzens. Charlotte, the photographer reminded John that he would qualify for this award soon but that he would have to win some games first.
There was a three-way tie for first place in the Minor tournament between Broadstairs’ Joshua Vaughan, David Archer (Godalming) and 10 year old Emily Maton (St Albans Early Knights) The key game here came in the final round between David and Emily with both on 3½ points. However, their draw gave Josh the chance to win outright as he was also on 3½ at the start of the round. Hats off to David for his coolness in heading off home, not knowing if he would finish first or second. In fact, the end was very tense as Josh looked to be winning but could not convert his rook v two pawn advantage and had to settle for a draw.
Josh receives his trophy
As a local player, however, he qualified as the Kent Minor Champion and was presented with his trophy from John (see photo). David was unable, therefore to collect his prize but he has submitted one of his games that he thinks is worth a wider audience. In his own words, “I liked this game because it was well fought, very close and an unusual finish. My opponent has not been playing very long and clearly shows great potential.”
White: Lawrence Hawkswell (UG) Black: David Archer (105)
Thanet Minor 2018