Mindsports International Chess Festival 18th - 23rd July 2024

[LawrenceCooper]

https://form.jotform.com/241063927509358

[Simon Myles]

A pretty incredible finish in the round 8 Daniel Fernandez game. There is also now seemingly an 11 way tie heading into tomorrow's final round!.

[LawrenceCooper]

A pretty incredible finish in the round 8 Daniel Fernandez game. There is also now seemingly an 11 way tie heading into tomorrow's final round!.

One of the co-leaders isn't playing round 9 so that leaves:

Round 9 on 2024/07/23 at 11:00
Bo. No. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg No.
1 1 GM Teclaf, Paweł 2559 5½ 5½ IM Large, Peter G 2311 13
2 14 FM Golding, Alex 2296 5½ 5½ GM Urkedal, Frode Olav Olsen 2551 2
3 18 WGM Navrotescu, Andreea 2246 5½ 5½ GM Fernandez, Daniel Howard 2525 3
4 7 FM Czopor, Maciej 2361 5½ 5½ GM Janik, Igor 2511 4
5 6 GM Kovchan, Alexander 2455 5½ 5½ FM Lim, Zhuo Ren 2251 16

I think that Alex Golding may have an IM norm provided his opponent turns up, he has 5.5/9 against an average of 2376, whereas Maciej needs to win for what I believe would be his last norm.

[Leonard Barden]

I think that Alex Golding may have an IM norm provided his opponent turns up, he has 5.5/9 against an average of 2376, whereas Maciej needs to win for what I believe would be his last norm.

It seems that Golding also got an IM norm in South Wales, where he tied first with Grieve on 7/9. He is not competing at Hull but is playing well enough to score his final norm at Kingston in August. That could even be sufficient for 2400 and the IM title as he is currently 2296 with 49 points to come from South Wales and 42 from MindSports.

Golding was a pre-teen talent but is now 20 and has played little during the past decade. That's an unusual career pattern. Is any further information known about him?

[LawrenceCooper]

I think that Alex Golding may have an IM norm provided his opponent turns up, he has 5.5/9 against an average of 2376, whereas Maciej needs to win for what I believe would be his last norm.

It seems that Golding also got an IM norm in South Wales, where he tied first with Grieve on 7/9. He is not competing at Hull but is playing well enough to score his final norm at Kingston in August. That could even be sufficient for 2400 and the IM title as he is currently 2296 with 49 points to come from South Wales and 42 from MindSports.

Golding was a pre-teen talent but is now 20 and has played little during the past decade. That's an unusual career pattern. Is any further information known about him?

He played a lot until he was 16 and then cut back mainly to 4NCL so it's probably focusing on education. It's certainly impressive how strongly he's come back though.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I remember the Golding brothers from when they played in the Thames Valley League, though I cannot remember if there were three or two brothers, or whether Alex is the older or younger. I think they played for Ealing. This was a while ago though. Definitely remember being impressed with some of the results.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It was Alex and James Golding, with Alex being a year older. Both featured in the 2013 Glorney Cup:

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/Juniors ... -the-team/

[Roger de Coverly]

It was Alex and James Golding, with Alex being a year older. Both featured in the 2013 Glorney Cup:

They've been around for quite a while. I played both at the 2016 British Championship in Bournemouth, lost to Alex, beat James.

According to FIDE rating, Alex born 2003, James 2001, so Alex the younger brother.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Oops. Thanks for the correction on the ages, Roger. I need to improve my reading comprehension...

Alex is 9 years old and started playing chess when he was 6 years old.

versus

James started playing chess when he was 8 years old...

I think we can infer from the above that Alex and James started playing chess at the same time. I wonder if the younger sibling in such cases nearly always tends to become a stronger chess player than the older one (due to the earlier start)? I am sure other examples can be provided (it would be unfair to focus on any single set of siblings).

[LawrenceCooper]

I remember the Golding brothers from when they played in the Thames Valley League, though I cannot remember if there were three or two brothers, or whether Alex is the older or younger. I think they played for Ealing. This was a while ago though. Definitely remember being impressed with some of the results.

James was born in 2001, Alex in 2003 and William in 2005.

[LawrenceCooper]

A pretty incredible finish in the round 8 Daniel Fernandez game. There is also now seemingly an 11 way tie heading into tomorrow's final round!.

A quick win for Daniel in round 9 guarantees him at least 1st=.

[Mick Norris]

Final standings

Tied 1st - 4th [£1,800/4 = £450 each (6.5/9)]:
- GM Frode Urkedal
- GM Daniel Fernandez
- GM Igor Janik
- GM Paweł Teclaf
U2200 [£100]: Daniel Johnson (5.5/9)
U2100 [£100]: M R Sooraj (5.5/9)

IM Norm: FM Alex Golding
WIM Norm: WCM Jia Ru Sim

[Mick Norris]

I see Dan and Danny Gormally are playing in Bruges at the moment