Leading masters battle it out in Darlington

(Newcastle Chronicle, 23 August 2024)

The Northumbria Masters Congress is in full swing this Bank Holiday weekend, with a total of nine Grandmasters and 11 International Masters playing nine games each at the Dolphin Centre, Darlington. The congress, with 150 players in total, is the North of England’s top annual international event.

In the Masters Open tournament, six GMs are playing, including England’s Mark Hebden, Scotland’s Matthew Turner, Belgium’s Alex Dgebuadze, Norway’s Frode Urkedal, Ukraine’s Yury Shkuro and Oleg Korneev (Spain).

In the GM Round Robin, aimed at producing GM norms for up-and-coming players, Northumberland’s GM Danny Gormally will be taking on GMs Eldar Gasanov (Ukraine) and Keti Arakhamia (Scotland), plus Sohum Lohia, Alex Golding and Jonah Willow (England), Conor Murphy (Ireland), Nikolas Wachinger (Germany), Elliot Papadiamandis (France) and Ondrej Svanda (Czech Republic). The GM norm will be 7/9.

In the IM Round Robin, IMs Peter Large (England), Gavin Wall (Ireland) and Angus Dunnington (Scotland) face Gosforth’s James Moreby and Jude Shearsby (England), Newcastle’s Andy Burnett (Scotland), Petr Hollan (Czech Republic), Zala Urh (Slovenia), Santhosh Abhyuday (India) and Moritz Collin (Switzerland). The IM norm is 7/9.

The final results will be in on Monday, when the Grandmaster, International Master, Open, Challengers and Major tournaments finish. Players compete for £6,000 in prizes and also aim to complete Grandmaster and International Master norms. Spectators are welcome from Friday 23 to Monday 26, with rounds running 10am-2pm and 3pm-7pm. The top games can be followed online at: https://lichess.org/broadcast and https://chess.com/events.

Sponsors for the congress include the English Chess Federation, the Chess Trust, the Friends of Chess, Durham County Chess Association, Northumberland Chess Association and the Northumbria Junior Chess Association.

The next major regional event coming up is the 60th Northumberland Weekend Congress, organised by Gosforth Chess Club, which takes place at the Parks Leisure Centre, Howdon Road, North Shields, North Tyneside, NE29 6TL from September 27-29. Tournaments include the Open, Major, Minor and Foundation, and a total of £2,200 in prizes is at stake. To enter online, go to: https://northumberlandchess.wixsite.com/congress. Queries should be addressed to: davidarmbruster51@googlemail.com.

As the North East’s players and clubs gear up for the new season this September, entries are also invited for the 2024-25 Northumberland Individual Championships, which run with one game per month. Entry is free for members of the English Chess Federation, and there are three competitions (Zollner Open, Sell Under 2000 and Gilroy Under 1700). Competitors should write to: championships@northumberlandchess.com. Entries close on Sunday 22nd September 2024.

PUZZLES

Puzzle A: Reti-Bogoljubow, 1924. White to play.

Puzzle B: Thompson-Wells, 2024. Black to play.

Puzzle C: Rapport-Carlsen, 2024. White to play.

Puzzle D: Nepomniachtchi-Ding, 2024. White to play.

ANSWERS:

A: 1 Be8! 1-0.
B: 1…Qd5! 0-1.
C: 1 Rxd2! 1-0. If 1…Rxd2 2 Be3+.
D: 1 Nfg5! 1-0. If 1…Qd7 2 Rxh5 gxh5 3 Nf6+, or 1…Qe7 2 Qa8+ Kg7 3 Qxc6.