Last weekend saw the happy return of the Edinburgh Chess Congress after a seven year hiatus. The event was very well attended and the playing hall was packed to capacity with players across a range of playing sections (Open, Major, Bishops, Knights).
The Open section (and title of East of Scotland champion) was won by the top seed – our very own Freddy Waldhausen Gordon, congratulations Freddy!
Thanks to Edinburgh Chess Club stalwart, Geoff Chandler, for the photo of Freddy after his victory. The event was held at the Hibs Supporters Club and we can see that Geoff, being a big Hibs fan, seemed more interested in getting the history of his club into the pic than the event winner!
The win was, however, far from easy. Remember this pair from a recent BBC article…?
…well the fourth round saw these gladiators (both on the maximum 3/3 at that stage) do battle once more, with the result being a hard-fought draw. Our president, Craig SM Thomson, had the white pieces in this grudge re-match and was careful to avoid the following sneaky trap (“I thought you would fall into it” – Freddy). Find the trap if white just captures the bishop here…answer at end of this blog so no sneaky scrolling ahead!
Being held in Edinburgh, the event was very well attended by members of our club. Many thanks to Iain Cowe (club member and one of the arbiters at the weekend) for the following list:
Premier (including East of Scotland Championship)
Winner – Freddy Waldhausen Gordon (4.5/5)
2nd = (with 2 others) – Craig SM Thomson (4/5)
Also playing in the premier were Ross Blackford and Neil Irving.
Major
2nd = (with 2 others) – Ivor McConnell (4/5)
Grading prize – Calum McGillivray (3/5)
Mark Gyalus could have got level with Ivor in the final round had he won, alas it wasn’t to be.
Keith A Aitchison was level with Calum and graded only 3 point higher, but unfortunately for him, the grading prize was set at 1735.
Also playing in the Major was Graham Dempsey.
Bishops
Pavlo Sokolenko was 4th equal (with 4 others – scoring 3.5/5) including the longest game of the event on Saturday morning!
Also playing in the Bishops were Bence Mogyorodi, Archie Drysdale and Arnav Govil.
Knights
Mark Smith ended equal 6th (3/5) after losing his final game, but would have been equal 2nd had he won.
Well done to all out players for supporting the event and doing the club proud! We are already looking forward to next year’s congress.
[Solution to puzzle: If white plays 25.Rxe2 then black has the spectacular combination 25…Qxf3 26.gxf3? ( 26.Qd1 holds) 26…Rc1+ 27.Kg2 Nf4+ 28.Kg3 Rg1+ 29.Kh4 g5 mate!!]