Grandmasters flock to Northumbria Masters

/in

(Newcastle Chronicle, 2 August 2024)

Seven Grandmasters and 10 International Masters are expected to play in the North East’s premier chess congress, the Northumbria Masters, which runs over the Bank Holiday weekend (22-26 August) at the Dolphin Leisure Centre in Darlington.

The congress, which has been run annually since 2018, has a prize fund of over £6,500 and includes three nine-round Swiss tournaments: a Masters Open, Challengers (for players rated under 2000 FIDE) and Major (for players under 1700 FIDE). There are also two all-play-all tournaments, aimed at enabling competitors to score Grandmaster and International Master norms.

Over 150 players are expected to attend, including most of the North East’s top players. The event is being sponsored by the English Chess Federation, the Chess Trust, the Friends of Chess, Northumberland and Durham Chess Associations and Northumbria Junior Chess Association.

The Dolphin Centre, which includes the 200-player capacity Victorian Central Hall, plus a café and overflow rooms for games analysis and a chess bookstall, is hosting the congress for the first time. The location is ideal for visiting players, as it is just off the busy Horse Market Square, with several hotels nearby. The centre is just half a mile from Darlington station on the East Coast Main Line and six miles from Durham Tees Valley Airport.

The Masters Open will also serve as the 2024 Northern Counties Individual Championship, and the highest placed player from Northumberland, Durham, Cleveland, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire will qualify for the 2025 British Championship.

Last year, a total of seven title norms were scored at the Northumbria masters. The 2023 Masters Open was won jointly by Grandmasters Daniel Gormally (Alnwick) and Gudmundur Kjartansson. The GM norm tournament was won by 16-year-old Rajat Makkar (France), and the IM tournament was won by 15-year-old Krzysztof Raczek (Poland).

Among the Grandmasters confirmed as playing this year are Gormally and Mark Hebden (England), Yury Shkuro and Eldar Gasanov (Ukraine) and Alexandre Dgebuadze (Belgium).

To enter the congress online, go to: https://northumbriamasters.com. Enquiries about place sin the GM and IM invitational tournaments should be sent to: info@northumbriamasters.com.

A number of free entries for English players under 21 are available, thanks to the John Robinson Trust. To apply, please write to the tournament director, Tim Wall, at: timpeterwall@gmail.com.

PUZZLES

This week’s puzzles are from the 2024 British Championship currently taking place in Hull.

Puzzle A: Grieve-Golding. Black to play and win.

Puzzle B: Rudd-Willow. White to play and win.

Puzzle C: Gasanov-Hebden. White to play and win.

Puzzle D: Banarjee-Rudd. White to play and win.

ANSWERS:

A: 1…g5+! 0-1. If 2 fxg6 Qh6 checkmate.
B: 1 Nh5+! 1-0. If 1…Nxh5 2 d7.
C: 1 Nd7+! 1-0. If 1…Rxd7 2 Qe8+ Kg7 3 f8(Q) checkmate.
D: 1 Nd6+ 1-0. After 1…Kxd8 2 Nxf7+.