North East chess fans gathered at Gosforth Empire Club on Monday evening to celebrate the news that 17-year-old Indian grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh has become the youngest-ever challenger for the World Championship.
Gosforth Chess Club’s third annual series of summer blitz tournaments gets under way this Monday, with entries welcome from all comers.
The North East’s new team chess competition, the World Cup-format Summer Cup, got off to a flying start this week with 10 matches played at the competition’s three hubs: Gosforth, Morpeth and Newcastle.
Sports fans will know the agony and the ecstasy that goes into end-of-season playoffs. One inspired moment, and your team crowns its efforts by clinching promotion. One mistake, and you’re consigned to relegation.
The Northumberland Open chess team has won the Northern Counties Championship for the third year running, beating Yorkshire 7-4 at Darlington over the weekend.
As sports look to recruit more players and grow their fanbase, new formats emerge and the calendar seems to get more jampacked every year. Globally, there are hardly any breaks in the football or cricket seasons in various competitions.
A similar situation exists in chess, and the North East’s top knockout teams competition has been revamped with World Cup-style qualifying groups to give clubs more games over the summer – but also to give players a holiday in August.
The North East’s top player, grandmaster Danny Gormally of Alnwick, won the British Open Rapidplay Championship ahead of a strong field of 216 players, including four GMs, at Peterborough over the weekend of March 2-3.
Sunderland chess legend David Mooney showed he can still beat the best at quick time limits, winning Gosforth Chess Club’s charity blitz tournament on March 2.
Northumberland’s teams have a tough battle ahead to qualify for the national stages of the Counties Championship after losing narrowly to Greater Manchester.
Newcastle A have wrapped up the Northumbria League with two rounds to spare after a dominant performance in the club’s first season. After beating South Shields A 3.5-0.5, Newcastle have a maximum 16 points and cannot be caught by second-placed Gosforth Empire on 9 points.