Blitz & league chess comes to Tyneside Irish Centre
(Chronicle Chess 15 September 2023)
Tyneside Irish Centre, the popular venue for live music and Guinness opposite St. James’ Park football stadium, is the venue for a new blitz
chess tournament.
The tournament, which will be FIDE-rated, takes place at the Gallowgate venue on Monday 25 September, from 6:30-9:15pm. There will be a total of seven rounds of blitz, where the time control per game is 5 minutes for each player, plus 3 seconds added after each move. Anyone can enter, and entry costs £3, payable on the day.
It’s the first event held by the newly formed Newcastle Central Chess Club, which is aiming to attract players thanks to its convenient city centre location and nearby bus and metro links.
Newcastle Central also aims to enter two teams in the upcoming 2023-24 Northumbria League: one in Division 1 and one in Division 5.
The new club’s first team is likely to be made up of players who until this week have represented one of the biggest North East clubs, Forest Hall,
but the club is keen to attract players of all standards and experience, and newcomers will be encouraged to try league chess.
To book your place in the Blitz tournament, or to join Newcastle Central Chess Club, write to organiser Tim Wall at: timpeterwall@gmail.com.
On Tuesday, two Knockout matches took place at Gosforth Empire Club. In the Knockout Cup, Division 1 champions Forest Hall A (an Open
team) defeated Division 5 champions Gosforth Woodbines (a Minor team) 4-0. With a handicap of 3.5 points, the Woodbines just needed a
single draw to pull off a major giant-killing surprise, but it was not to be as all four games ending in comfortable wins for the Division 1 team.
Forest Hall A 4-0 Gosforth Woodbines (Forest Hall players first)
1) Tim Wall 1-0 Jonathan Rooney
2) Andrew Burnett 1-0 David Pritchard
3) Matthew Forster 1-0 Michael Owen
4) Zheming Zhang 1-0 Andrew Brown
In the other match, a Plate Semi-Final, Newcastle University B (an Intermediate team) knocked out Gosforth Empire (an Open team) in somewhat bizarre fashion. As the University had a 2.5 point handicap, Gosforth had to win 3.5-0.5 to go through. But then Gosforth’s Board 4 failed to show up, defaulting the game and effectively losing the match before a move was played.
Newcastle University B 4.5-2 Gosforth Empire (University players first)
1) Michael Allen 0-1 Gustavo Leon Cazares
2) Varun Padikal 0-1 David Armbruster
3) Alexander McKay 1-0 Martin Thompson
4) Newcastle University 1-0 Default
The University team now goes through to the Plate Final against Gateshead on 18 September.