The 48^th Nottingham Congress took place last weekend. John S was again part of the organising team and group of controllers. Over a 3^rd of our members entered the event.

Felipe, on the back of the 3^rd team’s success in winning the 3^rd division title and a couple of good wins over stronger players when subbing in for the 2^nd team, decided to try his luck in the Open section, with spectacular results. In round 4 he beat our 1^st team captain, Florian. He also beat Alex Webster, 1942, who used to play for Ashfield and is now the captain of Belper A in the Derby League. As well as these two wins, he drew with a 2174 player. Felipe’s reward was a £25 half share of the U2000 grading prize.

Apart from that unexpected loss to Felipe, Florian had a good tournament. He beat WB’s Frank Richmond, 1971, and drew twice, with Mansfield’s Peter Ackley, 2107, and a 2371 player.

There was less success in the Major section. Steve won both his games as black to score 2.5 points. Drag scored just 2 points, and was lucky to escape with a draw against John H who missed a win and finished on 1.5 points against 4 opponents who were all higher graded. Peter G-M faced 4 players, on average about 100 points higher, and managed one draw.

There was better news from the Intermediate section. Paul won £15 for ending up joint 3^rd with 4 others on 3.5 points. He had a great Saturday, winning all three games, before losing in round 4 to the 2^nd seed and eventual joint winner, but he recovered to draw his final game. Graham must have been feeling confident after a good league season, but after drawing in round 1 he proceeded to lose his 3 other games against players on average 80 points lower. Ronnie, stepping up a section, scored 2 points against stronger opposition. David Dunne won his first two games before losing to Paul, then he lost both on Sunday. All his opponents were more than 100 points higher than him.

In the Minor section, Albert scored 3 points and beat two players who were 200 points higher. Vince scored 2 points, winning two and losing 3.

Our latest new member, Flame, was playing his first ever graded games and played very well to score 3.5 points in the Improvers section. He will probably get a ‘P’ rating around the 1360 mark.