On Saturday 26th Febuary, six members travelled to Crowborough to take part in the 35th Crowborough Chess Congress. The six were Janis, Steve Merchant, Sharon Merchant, Seb Merchant, Sam Merchant and myself. The tournament was a six round Swiss with a time control of 25 minutes plus 5 second increments. Seb and Sam played in the Challenger section while the rest of us played in the Major section.
The event contained some very strong players with the eventual winner being rated at 2340.
The good news was that Bexhill won the prize for best club. This meant that, to the delight of the two boys, we each received a large Easter Egg. Individually I think that it is fair to say that results were mixed. Seb and Sam both recorded three points from a possible six. This was a good result as this section included both some strong junior players as well as some good adults. Sharon gained 2 points from six which was a fine effort considering that she was heavily out rated in most of her matches and it was her 1st tournament. Steve also recorded 2 points and was left rueing some missed opportunities but this was only his second event of this nature so the experience will undoubtably help his progress. I also gained 2 points with a very up and down day of chess. I managed a draw in my first match against a player rated some 550 points higher than myself. I then managed a win , but as the day wore on my play sank and I only achieved half a point from the last 4 games. As with Steve this was only my second rapid tournament so hopefully I too will be better prepared next time. Janis played very solidly in his games and gained 3 from 6. His games were very close and hard fought and he was close to adding to his tally in at least 2 of his losses.
Despite the ups and downs of our play we all very much enjoyed the day. Many thanks to Janis for driving and many thanks to everyone at Crowborough for putting on such a wonderful event.
Full results, photos and a write can be found on the Crowborouh website here.
Bill Tracey.
