Shropshire Chess Congress 3-4 January 2015

[Steve Rooney]

Glad you had a good day, David and thanks for comments on catering, we'll pass it on to Jacob and his team.

All the results here - http://www.shrewsburychessclub.org/live-chess as well as Live Games today from 9.30am.

The top two rated players in the Open have both lost a point and Ryzard Maciol and Gordon Scott share the lead with 3/3. In the Major Karl Lockett and Nigel Holroyd are ahead with 3/3, and there is a four-way tie for the lead in the Minor with Jim Barrett, Stephen Crockett, Marco Ho and Kieran Newell on 3/3. Lots of chasers in all sections of course.

[David Blower]

Back from the congress and I enjoyed myself. I plan to enter next year (Steve do you already have the dates for next years congress, believe me it is NOT too early for me to start booking the time off work for it.)

I started today with a slim chance of winning but that disappeared as first I drew and then lost but I still had 4 good games.

The other thing to say is I really enjoy the social side of these chess congresses (this has surprised me about OTB chess in general.) It helped that 5 members of my club there, but I spoke to several other people I know from other clubs.

A report on the Brewood website will appear soon.

[Steve Rooney]

Back from the congress and I enjoyed myself. I plan to enter next year (Steve do you already have the dates for next years congress, believe me it is NOT too early for me to start booking the time off work for it.)

I started today with a slim chance of winning but that disappeared as first I drew and then lost but I still had 4 good games.

The other thing to say is I really enjoy the social side of these chess congresses (this has surprised me about OTB chess in general.) It helped that 5 members of my club there, but I spoke to several other people I know from other clubs.

A report on the Brewood website will appear soon.

Many thanks, David. I agree that the social aspect is important and is what makes congresses special. We are pleased that we were able to provide more room this year, both in the playing areas with improved layout and with an additional analysis room which also had the screens for following live games and Chess & Bridge's excellent bookstall.

We are very grateful to Alex Holowczak who took on the mantle of arbiter this year and did an excellent job keeping everything running smoothly.

We are keen to continue to improve and enhance the congress however and will be conducting a formal feedback process shortly to get suggestions and comments from players.

I hope to be able to confirm the dates for 2016 very soon. We are traditionally the first weekend in January, but in 2016 that is a bit close to new year for travel, so likely to be the 9/10 Jan weekend. (4NCL have helpfully announced their 2016 dates which are 16/17 Jan so we would avoid a clash and might also not be at the same time as Hastings for once.)

I have posted the results on another thread - http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7105 and full crosstables and the live games are available here - http://www.shrewsburychessclub.org/live-chess/

[David Blower]

Steve, have you got a full list of all the arbiters and controllers of the event. I like to credit things properly on the website. Thanks in advance for this.

The Brewood Chess Circle congress report will appear soon on the Brewood website!

[Steve Rooney]

Steve, have you got a full list of all the arbiters and controllers of the event. I like to credit things properly on the website. Thanks in advance for this.

The Brewood Chess Circle congress report will appear soon on the Brewood website!

David - Alex Holowczak was our arbiter this year, and myself and Francis Best were organisers/controllers. The IT support included the staff at Wrekin Housing Trust who helped set up the live DGT boards and the projection screens/website results, and Vinnie Crean from Telepost chess club who set up the paypal system and was our link with the Shropshire chess website.

[David Blower]

A nice little preview for everyone (and yes of course Alex Holowczak knows what I am talking about.) I can't give too much away though.

The response from myself was to simply stare at the chessboard in front of me, as I had not seen it for myself...

David Blower: "Erm yeah ok," I said to Alex bemused. "I hadn't even noticed." There were a few bits of laughter. "That WOULD have been interesting. About 3 hours into the match." As everyone around me bursts into laughter at the thought of Alex having to sort THAT out!