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Last update: Friday June 3, 2005 9:44
The Smith and Williamson British Chess Championships returned in 2004 to ever-popular Scarborough for the 3rd time in six years for the Centenary Championships of the British Chess Federation.
My report on the 2003 Championship spoke of the decision of the British Isles Co-ordinating Committee to change the qualifying conditions to debar Commonwealth players. As a result of this the Championship events were substantially weaker at every level; indeed many of the players who had demanded a “British-only” Championship were conspicuous by their absence. Michael Adams was expected to compete but his eleventh–hour withdrawal following his World Championship exploits was not unexpected. The result was an extremely open 62 player British (compared to 95 last year) with only one previous winner, Chris Ward, in the field. In Edinburgh the strongest challenge to the Indian players was from home players of Jonathan Rowson, Paul Motwani and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant. This Scottish theme was continued in 2004 with Jonathan a worthy outright winner scoring 8½/11. Kete retained her Women’s Title and Paul was again in the prize list. Peter Wells, the only player to defeat Jonathan, was second equal with Simon Williams whose courageous play netted a grandmaster norm. Craig Hanley reached the 2400 needed to confirm his IM title whilst Andrew Greet and Gawain Jones also achieved I.M. norm results.
Entries overall were 940 compared with 1009 at Edinburgh and can be directly attributed to the decline in British Championship entries and also less players in the Weekenders which were extremely well supported last year. For the first time BCF or other national membership was insisted upon as a condition of entry. I cannot imagine any other national sporting body that would allow non-members to compete and take the titles from members so I was especially pleased that most competitors agreed with this stance. The decision to end the 2004 Grand Prix at the British also seems to be a good one; gone are the days of a huge London Tournament at the end of the year and it seemed proper to complete the Grand Prix here with most of the key competitors turning up to fight out their sections.
In 2001 I can remember watching the eclipse of the sun on the Spa Centre steps, this year the chance of seeing the sun at all was an event in a fortnight dominated by either mist or rain. The sun actually appeared in the middle weekend for both holidaymakers and the Congress Cricket Team. The former benefited rather more than the latter who lost an entertaining match to Bridlington despite a fine 92 from Alec Toll. On now to the Sunday quiz. In one question it was alleged that one Otto Titzling invented the brassiere. Further research on this indicates that this fact, culled from a reputable quiz book and given in Trivial Pursuit, is, in fact, an urban myth of some long-standing. I promise better next time.
Which is an appropriate moment to announce that this, my seventh Championship, is to be my last as Congress Director and indeed as BCF Director of Congress Chess. I do not intend to seek re-election in October. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have assisted over the past seven years and indeed remember those such as George Smith, Tony Miles, Frank Hatto and this year Richard Furness who are no longer with us. Finally can I place on record my appreciation to Gareth Pearce and Smith & Williamson for their continued support for this, the flagship event of the British Chess Federation.
Neil Graham