This season’s NCC took place in Selston. Only 19 people entered, probably a result of the location, time of year, relatively short notice and not enough publicity. This compares to 23 last season and 22 the season before. I understand that Neil had struggled to find a suitable venue in Kirkby earlier in the season due to lack of help by the local council. Anyway, the Parish Hall was light and comfortable and the event was run efficiently by Neil Graham.
Only two people have played in the last 3 events, Mark and Drag, while just 3 more played both this and last season, yet 46 have played at least once in these 3 seasons. This appears to suggest that the players are there if the 4 items above are improved on. When the late Robert Richmond ran it at the High School for 12 years the entry was usually between 40 and 50.
The Championship section attracted only 7 entries, but that is still more than the 6 entries in 2018-19 and 2012-13, with the average at the High School being 10.
This was an awkward number for a Swiss event so Neil split the section into two groups of 3 & 4 doing an all play all on Saturday before merging on Sunday, ensuring no complications in the draw in the final two rounds.
In group A defending champion Alexandr Klimchik (Grantham) beat both Peter Ackley (Mansfield) & former Gambiteer Tony Wright (West Nottingham), while Peter beat Tony. In Group B Mike Barnes beat Drag, Francis Bowers & Robert K Taylor (both Grantham), while Drag lost all 3 games.
On Sunday morning Mike somehow managed to let his queen get trapped by Alexandr and Peter beat Francis. Drag expected the bye but played Tony after Robert withdrew. Drag was winning but lost focus and allowed Tony a simple manoeuvre that forced Drag into a B & N v K ending, and Drag struggled initially before finally achieving the mate with 4 moves to spare of the 50 allowed, in a game that lasted 127 moves.
This left him shattered and he duly lost very quickly in round 5 to Peter while Mike beat Tony and Alexandr beat Francis to retain his title.
The final scores were
Alexandr Klimchik 5, Mike Barnes & Peter Ackley 4, Francis Bowers & Robert Taylor 1.5, Tony Wright & Drag Sudar 1
The U1850 section had 12 players and was very competitive.
At the end of Saturday Bob Taylor (Ashfield) led by a clear point over 4 others. On Sunday morning he lost to Tim Poole (Beeston) while Eddie Bromilow (West Bridgford) beat former Gambiteer Andrew Thompson to join them on 3 points.
In the final round Bob could only draw but Eddie edged past Tim in the final game to finish to retain the title he won last season.
Mark lost both games on Saturday but recovered to win both on Sunday, including a win over Andrew Thompson in round 5.
The final scores were
Eddie Bromilow 4, Phil Morgan & Bob Taylor 3.5, Tim Poole & Ufuk Kachak 3, Mark Radford, Malcolm Jackson & Dale Bannister-Gregory 2.5, Simon Scott & Andrew Thompson 2, Ben Williams 1.5, Alan Shaw 0.5
The Championship was played in an excellent atmosphere and showed it is possible to have an exciting and fun event even without a large number of players, but we have to find a way of attracting more players, especially the stronger ones. Seeing as Robert Richmond ran the event for 12 years it does seem appropriate that the Nottinghamshire Chess Foundation uses his money, which he left to promote local chess, to support what should be the county’s most prestigious event.