English Chess Forum

42 players took part in the inaugural Tyneside Easter Congress at Forest Hall Chess Club, Newcastle over the Easter weekend of 14th to 16th April.

There were 12 players in the FIDE open, won by Danny Gormally who went into the last round a full point clear of the field and so could afford a quick draw. Special congratulations to the two ungraded players who outperformed. Mark Younger scored 1/4 against FIDE rated players and will have a FIDE rating in the May list. Stuart Skelsey scored 2/4 against FIDE rated players and just needs one more game in the next 26 months to also achieve a FIDE rating. Stuart also won the grading prize. Due to the low numbers there were prizes for 1st, 2nd and a grading prize.

Tyneside Easter Open
1st. GM Danny Gormally 4/5
2nd. FM Tim Wall 3.5/5
3rd=. FM Dave Walker, IM Mark Orr, Stuart Skelsey 3/5
Grading Stuart Skelsey

Tyneside Easter Major
1st. David Hall 4.5/5
2nd. Stephen Ormerod 4/5
Grading Ian Mackay

Tyneside Easter Minor
1st. William Metcalfe 4.5/5
2nd. Jeff Baird 4/5
Grading Neville Antony

The deciding game in the open was the second round clash between GM Danny Gormally and FM Tim Wall

[Event "Tyneside Easter Open 2017"] [Site "Forest Hall Chess Club"] [Date "2017.04.15"] [Round "2"] [White "Gormally,Daniel W 2465"] [Black "Wall,Tim P 2196"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [TimeControl "90+30"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. e3 b5 8. a4 Qb4 9. Qc2 Nf6 10. Be2 Bb7 11. O-O Nbd7 12. e4 h6 13. e5 Nd5 14. Ne4 O-O 15. Nd6 Rab8 16. axb5 cxb5 17. Rxa7 Bc6 18. Rc1 Ra8 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Nh4 Nf4 21. Bf1 Ra2 22. Rb1 Nf8 23. g3 N8g6 24. Nxg6 Nxg6 25. Qc3 Qa5 26. Bg2 Bxg2 27. Kxg2 Qa8+ 28. Kg1 Qd5 29. Qe3 f6 30. Qe4 Qxe4 31. Nxe4 fxe5 32. Nc3 Ra5 33. b4 cxb3 34. Rxb3 exd4 35. Nxb5 e5 36. Nd6 Rd5 37. Rb8+ Kh7 38. Ne4 Rd7 39. f3 Ne7 40. Kf2 Rc7 41. Rb5 Rc2+ 42. Ke1 Nc6 43. h4 d3 44. Rb3 Re2+ 45. Kf1 Re3 46. Kf2 Re2+ 47. Kf1 Re3 48. Kf2 Re2+ 49. Kf1 1/2-1/2

Ah yes, Tim Wall - his "on-off" chess career appears to be back on at the moment.

Does he still play barmy openings when the mood takes him?

My impression is that while he still aims to play a sufficiently wide repertoire that he is difficult to prepare for he has given up the barmy stuff as life is too short and the proliferation of computers means dodgy openings are more likely to just get crushed nowadays. At least at his level.

That said, it was interesting today to see the American player Savage play Charlie Storey's "Sniper" against a top GM (Movsesian) and get a good game. I believe his is about the only one of the top games still going on - https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2017/1/1/6