Northumberland Champs showdown looms

(Newcastle Chronicle, 4 April 2025)

Whatever your sport – whether it’s the FA Premier League or the pub darts league – fans love thrilling head-to-head showdowns at the end of the season. As the 2024-25 winter chess season draws to a close, all three sections of the Northumberland Championships are set for exciting finales going into the decisive last round.

In the Zollner (Open) tournament, Andy Burnett and Tim Wall (Newcastle) are leading with 4.5/6. Half a point behind in equal third are Husain Nakara (Newcastle University), Gustavo Leon Cazares (Gosforth) and Paul Dargan (Tynemouth) on 4 points.

Other Zollner scores: 6 Andy Trevelyan (Jesmond) 3.5; 7-10 David Armbruster, Jack Erskine-Pereira (Gosforth) John Boyd (South Shields), Chris Izod (Jesmond) 3; 11-12 Nathan Ekanem (Newcastle) and Gary Murphy (Jesmond) 2; 13 Dalil Benchebra 1.5.

The top pairings are Burnett v Dargan, Wall v Trevelyan and Nakara v Leon Cazares.
If Burnett and Wall both win, a two-game playoff match is in prospect.

In the Sell (Under 2000), Alex Blake (Gosforth) and Stuart Skelsey (Forest Hall) are tied for first on 5/6, followed by Jounaid El Archi (Newcastle) and Paul Bielby (South Shields) equal third on 4.

Other Sell scores: 5-6 Raj Mohindra (Forest Hall) and Mick Riding (Gosforth) 3.5; 7-8 John Awesome (Newcastle) and Morgan French (Forest Hall) 3; 9-10 Mark McKay (Gosforth) and Jeremy Revell (Newcastle) 2.5; 11-14 Reece Wright (Forest Hall), Michael Allen (Newcastle University), Andrew Robinson and Alan Green (Gosforth) 2; 15 Ian Chester 1.5; 16 Stamen Kolev 0.5.

Both leaders face dangerous former champions: Skelsey faces Bielby, while Blake faces Riding.

In the Gilroy (Under 1700), David Simm (Morpeth) and Jonny Kearney (Tynedale) are on 5/6. In third place is Denise Mosse (Gateshead). In equal fourth there is a pileup of seven players on 4 points: Darren McCarthy (Alnwick), Ethan Tatters (Forest Hall), Alfie McMonagle and Thomas Cameron (Newcastle University), Kevin Cox (Gateshead), Michael Owen and Antonio Stipanovic (Gosforth).

Other Gilroy scores: 11-15 Ian Rook and Jonathan Solomon (Forest Hall), Martin Brookes (Tynemouth), Tom Krause and Alykhan Bandali (Gosforth) 3.5; 16-21 James Phillips (Newcastle), Andrew Hardy (Alnwick), Gautham Satishkumar, Sanjay Satishkumar, Joey Pramana and Alex Piercy (Gosforth) 3; 22-28 Dave Peardon (South Shields), Jonathan Rooney, Brandon Russell, Ethan Ross, Viaan Vokul Nath (Gosforth), Viktorija Bezganovic and James Flint (Newcastle University) 2.5; 29-30 Felix Glover and Aaron Cheung (Gosforth) 2; 31-35 Daniel Atcheson (Newcastle), Alan Smith, Bob Heyman, Vishnu Sraram and Steve Armstrong (Gosforth) 1.5; 36 Simon Horrocks (Gosforth) 1.

The seventh-round pairings pit Simm and Kearney against each other.