Northumberland Championships under way for 2024-25

(Newcastle Chronicle, 27 September 2024)

The 2024-25 Northumberland Individual Championships are under way, with a total of 62 players set to battle it out over the next seven months for the coveted Zollner, Sell and Gilroy trophies. This is an impressive entry, up some 50 per cent on previous years and underlining the welcome increase in chess activity on Tyneside in the last few years.

Heading up the 14-player Zollner tournament list is six-time winner Tim Wall (Newcastle), but he faces a tough challenge from fellow FIDE Masters David Walker (Leam Lane) and Andy Burnett (Newcastle), as well as newcomer Husain Nakara (Newcastle University).

In the 16-player Sell competition, reigning co-champions Mick Riding (Gosforth) and Raj Mohindra (Forest Hall) are joined by veteran former Zollner winner Paul Bielby (South Shields), last year’s Gilroy winner Mark McKay (Gosforth) and Jounaid El-Archi (Newcastle).

The 32-player Gilroy tournament is the toughest competition to predict, with a new name on the trophy highly likely to appear in May. Potential contenders are Darren McCarthy (Alnwick), Antonio Stipanovic (Gosforth), Dave Peardon (Hetton Lyons), Alfie McMonagle (Newcastle University) and Ethan Tatters (Forest Hall).

The Northumbria League is also expanding, with 44 teams of four players each from 13 clubs due to take part in the 2024-25 season. Gosforth is leading the way with 10 teams, followed by Forest Hall with six. Newcastle University is entering an all-women’s team and its newly promoted first team likely to be a strong challenger in Division 1.

Newcastle Dragons are likely to be the favourites again for Division 1, while new club Cramlington are a welcome addition to the league. Full fixtures are due to be published next week, and the season will run from October through to the end of April.

This weekend sees the 60th Northumberland Weekend Congress take place at the Parks Leisure Centre, North Shields, from Friday evening through to Sunday. As of Thursday, a healthy 136 entries had been registered.

Top seed in the Open is Alnwick grandmaster Danny Gormally, with his challengers likely to be Wall and Burnett (Newcastle), Walker (Leam Lane), Nakara (Newcastle University) and promising England junior Theo Khoury (Oxford).

Local hopes in the Major rest with Bielby (South Shields), McKay (Gosforth) and Stuart Skelsey (Forest Hall), while in the Minor the leading contenders include Stipanovic (Gosforth), McMonagle (Newcastle University) and Noel Boustred (Forest Hall).

The Foundation includes a bevy of juniors from Gosforth and Forest Hall, with the pre-tournament favourite possibly Sanjay Sathishkumar (Gosforth).

PUZZLES

This week’s puzzles are taken from the recently concluded FIDE World Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.

Puzzle A: Urkedal-Noritsyn. White to play.

Puzzle B: Caruana-Tin. White to play.

Puzzle C: Fawzy-Abdusattorov. Black to play.

Puzzle D: Lopez-Wang. Black to play.

ANSWERS:

A: 1 Bxe6! Kxe6 2 f5+ Ke7 3 Nd5+ wins a key pawn.
B: 1 Qe8+ Kh7 2 Ng5+! 1-0. If 2..hxg5 3 Qxh5+ Kg8 4 Re8+ wins.
C: 1…Rd2! 0-1. If 2 Nxd2 Qxh3 checkmate, or 2 Qxd2 Qxf3+ 3 Kh2 Qg3+ 4 Kh1 Qxh3 checkmate.
D: 1…Rh1+! 0-1. If 2 Kxh2 Qh4+ 3 Kg1 Qxe1+ 4 Kh2 Qxe5 wins.