9 members entered the congress which had almost 200 competitors in total.

Ronnie was our best performer. He entered the Intermediate section as 44th seed out of 53 and finished joint 11th with 3 points; with a win in round 5 he would have finished joint 3rd. He will gain 20 rating points as a result.

Marshall, in his 1st Nottingham Congress, also entered the Intermediate section and scored 2.5 points even after falling to an opening trick from club mate Marian in round two. His best result was beating a 1668 in round 1.

Marian was our 3rd member in the Intermediate section and finished joint 5th with 3.5 points. He had a perfect Saturday, winning all 3 games, and draw on Sunday morning, but then messed up his endgame when winning in round 5, and missed out on a 2nd place finish.

Mike Naylor-Eade was in the Open section. After a disastrous start against a player almost 250 points lower than him, he recovered to win twice before losing to WB’s Shabir Okhai but then won his final game to score 3 points.

5 of us entered the Major section and none of us performed brilliantly, reflected by the fact that none of us played any opponent rated higher than 1736 in a U1900 competition.

Mark scored 2 from his 4 games and John H scored 1 point from his 3 games.

Nikolai, playing in his first Nottingham Congress, scored 3 points against opponents averaging 1600 and will take a hit on his rating of 18 points. He did have the pleasure of beating WB’s Chris Budd and also former Gambiteer David Dunne.

Felipe, playing in his 4th Nottingham Congress, scored 2.5 points against opponents averaging 1700 and will also take a hit on his rating, of 20 points. Three of his opponents were teenagers whose relatively low ratings might not always reflect their actual ability.

Drag, playing in his 21st Nottingham Congress, scored 1 point from his 3 games v opponents averaging 1700. In round 1 he threw away a position that was impossible to lose. After winning in round 2 he lost a game he thought he had been winning earlier on but which the engines showed later that he never was. He will lose 23 rating points as a result.

Some former Oxclose and Gambit members entered.

In the Open section, Julian Cast scored 2.5 points and so did Oliver Graham, who beat a 2109 and drew with a 2176.

Tony Wright, returning to chess this season after a 17 year break, scored 3 points in the Major section, including a win over David Dunne.

Andrew Thompson lost his first two games in the Intermediate section but then won his final 3.