English Chess Forum

A quick note to say that the 49th BWCI Guernsey International Chess Festival will be taking place from the 19th to the 25th October 2025.

The venue will be the same as last year and registration is open.

Festival details are available on the website https://guernseychessfestival.org.gg/.

Registration via this eventbrite page.

Blitz and/or Simultaneous Exhibition on the 18th October.
Classical rounds between the 19th and 25th October.
Prizegiving Dinner on the 25th October.

Looking forward to seeing the everyone.

Link to live games:

https://view.livechesscloud.com#783d64e ... 81180554e2
https://view.livechesscloud.com#f3c4e2c ... b8e4cde4f2

LawrenceCooper wrote:

Fri Oct 17, 2025 6:06 pm

Link to live games:

Link to pairings etc.
Open
https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1247882 ... 1&SNode=S0
Challengers
https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1247882 ... 1&SNode=S0

Seems like a low entry just 19 in the Open and 22 in the Challengers.

Last year was 32 and 30

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 17, 2025 6:16 pm

LawrenceCooper wrote:

Fri Oct 17, 2025 6:06 pm

Link to live games:

Link to pairings etc.
Open
https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1247882 ... 1&SNode=S0
Challengers
https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1247882 ... 1&SNode=S0

Seems like a low entry just 19 in the Open and 22 in the Challengers.

Last year was 32 and 30

This is the Challengers list: https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1248488 ... 1&SNode=S0

One issue is travel. Guernsey flights go only to Jersey, England (various) and I think there is a fairly local French flight. A few years ago, perpetual attender Rudi Von Saldern told me he had a two hour trip to the airport in Germany, then he flew to Stansted, got the bus to Gatwick, flew to Guernsey, then did the reverse on the way back. He was aged 80+ and very enthusiastic. Many people would decide to play a tournament that was easier to get to. In the old days, there was a regular Amsterdam - Guernsey flight, and there were more Dutch players than English!

The venue is nice but halfway up a steep hill, so although I am staying at a nearby hotel, the walk to/from the venue is tough especially in wet/windy weather.

There was an amusing start to the event, when (not the for the first time) I played the top seed in the first round, but this time, he asked me to autograph my book on Civil Service chess, which seemed to impress some of the onlookers!

Results:-

Open - 1-2 Katarzyna Toma (ENG) (trophy on tie-break) and Hamish Olson (SCO) 5.5/7, 3-4 Arita Strade (GCI) and Alan Punnett (ENG) 4.5, 19 played.

Challengers - 1st Gerda Nevska (GCI) 6/7, 2nd Garth Owen (GCI) 5, 3-6 Chi Yin Chan (HKG), Nigel Dennis (ENG), Denis O'Connell (IRL), Peter Remie (NED) 4.5, 22 played.

The local players did well, and for the second year in a row, female players picked up major prizes. Gerda started with five wins, then adopted the Karpov style of two draws to finish. She also won the brilliancy prize for a very entertaining game with Robert Kane.

Further to my previous post, I notice that Guernsey also has a direct flight to Malaga in Spain.