Press Release

Bolton Easter Congress 2003

The Bolton Easter congress was held from Good Friday April 18th to Easter Sunday April 20th. The congress claims to be the oldest weekend congress in the country. It was first held in 1946 making this the 58th event. Although the event has moved towns in its 58 years it is now back in the same building as it was in 1947.

Helped perhaps because this year it was the only Easter Congress held in the North of England the congress attracted a grandmaster, Nigel Davies and a FIDE Master Craig Hanley. Nigel won the event scoring four straight wins and then a draw in the last round. While Craig came second with three wins and two draws. Craig’s two draws came in rounds two and four so the two top seeds avoided each other. While Nigel’s performance seems to be a standard grandmaster performance, four wins and a draw in the last round to seal the first prize. In reality it was not like that at all. In round two Nigel played last years winner Mike Surtees. Mike, admittedly a little short of time, on move 34 had the position we all dream of. A mate in three against a grandmaster. But it stayed a dream. He missed the mate and Nigel went on to win a rook and pawn ending.

The Major was jointly won by Perer Szalapaj of Ecclesall chess club in Sheffield. Roger Howley of Bury. Tony Pawson from Leeds and Martin Peim of Chortlton all of whom scored four points. In the Knights things were a little simpler with two joint winners who scored four and a half points, Richard Desmeldt from Wombwell and Chris Edwards of Courier Chess Club Halifax

As is now becoming traditional we ran a busy persons in the Saturday afternoon slot. Busy persons tournaments are proving to be very popular events. The entry this year was seventy four up from sixty nine last year. Busy persons seem to be the only type of chess event with increased entries. The concept is that it is a ten minute tournament with everyone playing in the same section. Rounds 1-6 are played continuously. As soon as you finish your game you are re-paired and if necessary liberties are taken with the swiss draw to give you an opponent. After round six the next two rounds are paired in the traditional way. It is designed to be fast, furious, and above all fun. It was, and the busiest persons seemed to be the controllers one of whom described it as being like organising an anarchists birthday party. Out of the chaos emerged two joint winners scoring seven points from eight games. These being Brett Lund from Preston and Robert Taylor from 3Cs chess club.

Prize Winners Weekend Tournament

A five round event

	Name	Club/Area	Pts	Prize
Open
First	Nigel Davies	3Cs	4.5	£220
Second	Craig Hanley	Lancaster	4	£110
Third Equal	Brett Lund	Preston	3.5	£10
	David Hulmes	Stockport		£10
	Adam Ashton	Three Cs		£10
	Stephen Gordon	Three Cs		£10
	David Shaw	Urmston		£10
	Alan Walton	Three Cs
Under 180 GP	John Wareing	Todmorden	3	£70
Major	(Below 160)
First equal	Peter Szalapaj	Ecclesall	4	£62.5
	Roger Howley	Bury		£62.5
	Tony Pawson	Leeds		£62.5
	Martin Peim	Chorlton		£62.5
Fifth Equal	James Hanley	Lancaster	3.5
Under 140 GP	Dirk Sander	Leipzig Germany	3.5	£50
Knights	(Below 120)
First Equal	Richard Desmeldt	Wombwell	4.5	£105
	Chris Evans	Courier		£105
Third	Stephen Gardner	Blackpool	4	£40
Under 100 GP	Rozakis Vassileios	Man Univ	4	£50
Fifth Equal	Neil Coward	Guardian	3.5
	James Thompson	Notts area
	Don Curry	Halesowen
	Maziar Jalini	Leeds
	Michael Carroll	Swinton
	John Aldridge	Halifax
	Richard Glover	Three Cs
	Ian Farqhharson	Oakham

The following scored Junior Senior Female or Disabled BCF Grand Prix points

Junior

Craig Hanley

Stephen Gordon

David Shaw

James Hanley

Richard Glover

Disabled

Dean Hartley 2.5/5 in Major

Female

Robyn Smith 3.5/5 Major

No Senior Qualifiers

Prize Winners Busy Persons Tournament

An eight round event Prize Fund £240

	Name	Club/Area	Pts	Prize
First equal	Brett Lund	Preston	7	£34
	Robert Taylor	3Cs		£34
	Jon Burgess	Chorlton		£34
Fourth Equal	Jeff Horner	Bolton	6.5
	Stephen Gordon	3Cs
Sixth Equal	Adam Ashton	3Cs	6
	Mike Surtees	Bolton
	Alan Walton	3Cs
190-166 GP	Stephen Gordon	3Cs	6.5	£20
165-146 GP	Stuart Bainbridge	Radcliffe	5.5	£20
145-126 GP	Roger Howley	Bury	5	£10
	Mick Norris	Bury		£10
125-106 GP	Marcial Flores	Eccles	5.5	£20
105-86 GP	Rozakis Vassileios	Manchester University	5	£20
85-61 GP	Warren Derbyshire	Chorley	4	£20
Under 60 GP	Carl Bardsley	Swinton	3.5	£20
	Liam Rabbitte	Swinton		£20

The following scored Junior Senior Female or Disabled BCF Grand Prix points

Junior

Robert Taylor

Stephen Gordon