Hull Chess Congress 2008

Although entries were down on last year, the 45th annual Hull Chess Congress, held last weekend, proved to be a success.

In the main event for the R.P.Ross Trophy, it was a case of the oldest player, Roelof Westra, tying for first place with the youngest.

Roelof, many times champion of HDCA and a veteran member at the Beverley and Hull clubs, scored 4 points from his five games. The promising 13 year old Craig Whitfield from Cheddleton & Leek also reached 4 points in one of the last games to finish. The prize for Grades below 160 was shared by Michael Hubbard (Tynemouth) and Jim Hawksley (Hull), who both scored 3 points.

In the J. P. Lawson tournament, the Hull player, Shaun Culkin scored 5 straight wins from 5 games to win first prize. The grading prize was won by David Siddal (Penrith) with 3.5 points.

The third tournament named after former HDCA President and Woodhouse Cup Captain, Ted Starkey, was won by Colin Cartlidge (W.Leeds) who scored 4.5 points, ahead of Daniel Broughton (West Bridgeford) who scored 4 points. The grade prize was shared by Malcolm Hara (Walkington) and Kevin Marshall (Sheffield Nomads) with scores of 3.5 points.

In the E. W. Fisher tournament, victory went to David Dunne (Navigation - W. Notts) with a clean score of 5 points. This followed on from his first place in a similar event at Scarborough Congress two weeks ago. Second place was shared by David Scorer (Pendle) and Robert Stokes (Scunthorpe) who both scored 4 points.
Grade Prizes were won by Charlie Clayton (St Andrews), Michael Snowdon (Rotherham), James Waddington (Bolton), Clifford Hanson (Pendle), Kenneth Parkin (Pendle) Trevor Sheppard (Hull) and Bill Egan (Unaffiliated) who all scored 3 points.

An interesting point (maybe) in this tournament was my first appearance as a player after organising or controlling the Congress over the last 44 years. However, I only managed to score 50%, so that was not so good !

The Congress was organised by HDCA Secretary Mark Ieronimo and the Controllers were Colin Hailstone, Bryan Hesler and John Bycroft. Their efforts were very much appreciated by the players and contributed to the smooth running of the event.

President, Mike Butt, presented the prizes at the conclusion of the Congress.

(Report by John Lawson, 10/11/08)