18th Nottingham Rapidplay Chess Congress
This year’s Nottingham Rapidplay was held at Nottingham Boys High School on 18 February. Full scores for all events are listed below.
Tournament Director Rob Richmond reports:
The Open was strong this year, with an excellent turnout of top Notts players. Mark Hebden had a good day at the office to win the Open, agreeing a quick draw in the last round to secure outright 1st place.
The Major was hard fought, with David Brown edging into the lead in Round 5 and holding off John Tassi in Round 6.
The Minor was won by Neil Partridge of Littleover (Derbyshire), returning to competitive play after a number of years away. Creditable second place went to three three juniors – Edwin Justice (15), Michael Zhang (11) and Samuel Milson (12).
Numbers were slightly down this year, but there was no party of Polish students to hijack. The event returned to the excellent venue at Nottingham High School. My thanks to Neil Graham and John Swain for controlling and David Levens for being the celebrity chef. The event ran very smoothly – so smoothly that I will be asking the Executive Committee to consider reducing the gap between rounds from 30 to 20 minutes. Views welcome.
Results
Open
Open to all players
| Pos | Name | Grade | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Hebden (Leicester) | 252 | 5½ | £150.00 |
| 2= | Robert Shaw (High Peak) | 195 | 4½ | £40.00 |
| Michael Barnes (Gambit) | 206 | 4½ | £40.00 | |
| 4= | Kishan Lakhani (Long Eaton) | 154 | 4 | |
| Alex Posazhennikov (Nottingham University) | 174 | 4 | ||
| 6= | Ankush Khandelwal (Ashfield) | 193 | 3½ | |
| Alan Edwards (Wigston) | 192 | 3½ | ||
| 8= | Paul Cumbers (Sheffield Nomads) | 191 | 3 | |
| Ian Kingston (West Nottingham) | 141 | 3 | ||
| 10= | Peter Mercs (Gambit) | 141 | 2½ | |
| Tim Walker (West Bridgford) | 167 | 2½ | ||
| Robert Skinner (Caegwrle) | 143 | 2½ | ||
| Richard Webster (Ashfield) | 159 | 2½ | ||
| Daniel Wells (Newark) | 152 | 2½ | ||
| 15= | Ian Todd (–) | 150e | 1½ | |
| Mike Surtees (Bolton) | 184 | 1½ | ||
| Graham Ladds (Newark) | 154 | 1½ | ||
| 18 | Minh Ngoc Nguyen (West Nottingham) | 186 | 1 | Withdrawn (2 rounds) |
Major
Open to players graded below 140
| Pos | Name | Grade | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Brown (Long Eaton) | 120 | 5 | £120.00 |
| 2 | John Tassi (Gambit) | 131 | 4½ | £70.00 |
| 3= | Daniel Broughton (West Bridgford) | 114 | 4 | |
| Alex Combie (Newark) | 127 | 4 | ||
| Robert Taylor (Ashfield) | 123 | 4 | ||
| 6= | Will Place (West Bridgford) | 135 | 3½ | |
| Jonathan Day (West Nottingham) | 87 | 3½ | ||
| Richard Edwards (Gambit) | 126 | 3½ | ||
| 9= | Mike Lally (Sheffield) | 134 | 3 | |
| John Collins (West Nottingham) | 132 | 3 | ||
| Graham Booley (Birstall) | 121 | 3 | ||
| 12= | Oliver Exton (Nomads) | 128 | 2½ | |
| Toby Thurgood (Nomads) | 103 | 2½ | ||
| 14 | Janos Wagenbach (Mansfield) | 120 | 2 | |
| 15= | George Murfet (Radcliffe & Bingham) | 112 | 1½ | |
| Martin Chojnacki (–) | 125 | 1½ | Withdrawn (5 rounds) | |
| Steve Foster (Worcester) | 131 | 1½ |
Minor
Open to players graded below 110
| Pos | Name | Grade | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neil Partridge (–) | 108e | 5½ | £120.00 |
| 2= | Edwin Justice (Ashfield) | 72 | 5 | £23.33 |
| Samuel Milson (Louth) | 80 | 5 | £23.33 | |
| Michael Zhang (West Nottingham) | 82 | 5 | £23.33 | |
| 5= | Barry Redburn (Radcliffe & Bingham) | 85 | 4 | |
| Gary Hopkinson (Gambit) | 100 | 4 | ||
| Nigel Wright (Ashfield) | 98 | 4 | ||
| Andy Johnson (Littlethorpe) | 90 | 4 | ||
| Kim Gilbert (S. Lucas) | 91 | 4 | ||
| Sally McIntosh (Ashfield) | 91 | 4 | ||
| 11= | John Buttery (Radcliffe & Bingham) | 84 | 3½ | |
| James Thomson (–) | 96 | 3½ | ||
| Jon Asbury (S. Lucas) | 85 | 3½ | ||
| Daniel Lin (West Nottingham) | 108 | 3½ | ||
| 15= | Ben Hobson (Gambit) | 86 | 3 | |
| Dorothy Blampied (Bunkers) | 68 | 3 | ||
| D. Wood (Northampton) | – | 3 | ||
| S. Colley (–) | 74 | 3 | ||
| Chris Cumbers (Grantham) | 68 | 3 | ||
| Collin Dandy (Sutton Coldfield) | 93 | 3 | Withdrawn (5 rounds) | |
| Graham Gibson (Gambit) | 83 | 3 | ||
| David Griffiths (Fiveways) | 106 | 3 | Withdrawn (5 rounds) | |
| James Waddington (Bolton) | 66 | 3 | ||
| 24= | Richard Keane (Milton Keynes) | 106 | 2½ | Withdrawn (5 rounds) |
| Kevin Marshall (Sheffield Nomads) | 94 | 2½ | ||
| Ravi Chandarana (LPSCA) | 35 | 2½ | ||
| Dean Madden (Spondon) | 30e | 2½ | ||
| Anjali Lakhani (Long Eaton) | 105 | 2½ | ||
| Eric McKenna (Sheffield Nomads) | 101 | 2½ | ||
| 30= | Neil Milson (Louth) | 55 | 2 | |
| Aman Ruparelia (LPSCA) | 50e | 2 | ||
| Keval Rughani (Rugby) | 44 | 2 | ||
| Joseph Pacitto (Ashfield) | 36 | 2 | ||
| Tracey Clegg (West Nottingham) | 60 | 2 | ||
| 35= | Paul Neumann (Grantham) | – | 1½ | |
| Amy Milson (Louth) | 58 | 1½ | ||
| Saaras Mehan (West Nottingham) | – | 1½ | ||
| Yash Gupta (West Nottingham) | 10 | 1½ | Withdrawn (5 rounds) | |
| 39= | Angus McIntosh (Ashfield) | – | 1 | |
| Daniel Thurgood (Nottingham High School) | – | 1 |