Legendary Zollner trophy up for grabs

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(Newcastle Chronicle, 1 November 2024)

The 2024-25 edition of the North East’s longest-running chess tournaments, the Northumberland Championships, are the biggest in recent years, with a total of 65 competitors. The Open (Zollner) could well see a new champion this season.

The silver-plated Zollner trophy, depicting legendary 10th century Viking chieftain Rollo, was donated to Northumberland Chess Association in 1930 by Louis Zollner, the Danish consul to Newcastle. The trophy is the association’s most treasured possession, as it was once valued at the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow at £25,000. With such a price tag, the trophy is not held by the winner but kept at an undisclosed location and only put on display briefly each year at the AGM, before being whisked away into hiding again.

Six-time Zollner champion, Tim Wall (Newcastle), faces stiff competition this year from FIDE Master Andy Burnett and Nathan Ekanem (Newcastle), Husein Nakara (Newcastle University), Paul Dargan (Tynemouth), Gustavo Leon Cazares and David Armbruster (Gosforth). All seven players are on 1/1 after the first round.

Round 2 Zollner pairings are:

Wall (1) – Leon Cazares (1);
Nakara (1) – Dargan (1);
Armbruster (1) – Burnett (1);
Ekanem (1) – John Boyd (South Shields, 0);
Gary Murphy (Jesmond, 0) – Chris Izod (Jesmond, 0);
Jack Erskine-Pereira (Gosforth, 0) – Dalil Benchebra (Leam Lane, 0).
Andy Trevelyan (Jesmond, 0) has the bye, while David Walker (Leam Lane, 0) has withdrawn.

The Under 2000 (Sell) tournament is wide open after Round 1, with six players sharing the lead.

Full Sell scores:

1-6 Jounaid El-Archi (Newcastle), Alex Blake, Ian Chester (Gosforth), Stuart Skelsey (Forest Hall), Paul Bielby, Michael Allen (South Shields) 1/1;
7-10 Mick Riding, Andrew Robinson (Gosforth), Raj Mohindra (Forest Hall), John Awesome (Newcastle) 0.5;
11-16 Mark McKay, Alan Green (Gosforth), Jeremy Revell, Stamen Kolev (Newcastle), Morgan French, Reece Wright (Forest Hall).

The Gilroy (Under 1700) has 36 competitors, and no fewer than 15 players share the lead.

Full Gilroy scores:

1-15 Andrew Hardy, Darren McCarthy (Alnwick), Brandon Russell, Jonathan Rooney, Tom Krause, Alykhan Bandali, Felix Glover (Gosforth), Denise Mosse, Kevin Cox (Gateshead), Alfie McGonagle, Thomas Cameron (Newcastle University), David Simm (Morpeth), Jonny Kearney (Tynedale), Martin Brookes (Tynemouth) 1/1;
16-21 Bob Heyman, Michael Owen, Joey Pramana, Sanjay Satishkumar (Gosforth), Danny Atcheson, James Phillips (Newcastle) 0.5/1;
22-36 Antonio Stipanovic, Alex Piercy, Gautham Satishkumar, Steve Armstrong, Aaron Cheung, Simon Horrocks, Vishnu Sriram, Ethan Ross, Viaan Gokul Nath (Gosforth), Dave Peardon, Alan Smith (South Shields), Ethan Tatters, Jonathan Solomon (Forest Hall), Viktoria Bezganovic, James Flint (Newcastle University) 0.

PUZZLES

This week’s puzzles are from Round 1 of the Northumberland Championships.

Puzzle A: Benchebra-Armbruster. Black to move.

Puzzle B: Simm-Ross. White to move.

Puzzle C: Hardy- Flint. White to move.

Puzzle D: McKay-Blake. White to move.

ANSWERS:

A: 1…Rxa7! 2 Rxa7 Bd4+ wins.
B: 1 Nxd5! cxd5 2 Rxd5 wins two pawns.
C: 1 b4! 1-0. If 1…axb3 2 Rxa5, or 1…Ra8 2 bxc5.
D: 1 Qb8+ Qf8 2 Ne7+! Kg7 3 Qxf8+ Kxf8 4 Nxg6+ wins.