Wrekin Congress 2010

Shropshire's finest were frozen out of the big prizes at the county's biggest chess event, with all three sections in the snowbound Wrekin Chess Congress being won by “outsiders” who had braved the winter weather in search of plunder. A number of competitors cried off due to the conditions, and some others who started the tournament withdrew during it for the same reason.
Over half of the 96 who managed to make it to the weekend tournament at the Madeley Court Centre in Telford were from out-of-county. Northwich, Warley, Stafford, Stourbridge, Rugeley, Lichfield, Holmes Chapel, Birmingham, Newcastle-under-Lyme... all were represented in the prize list and took a share of the loot totalling over £1,000.
The winner in the strongest section, the Premier, had travelled all the way from Colwyn Bay. He was David Jameson who secured the £200 prize with a final round win over Newport's Gavyn Cooper, which took him to a score of four out of five.
All players in the competition, unless they opted for a half-point bye in one round (a popular move on Saturday night), played five games, three on Saturday and two on Sunday.
Shropshire players were completely shut out of all the other moneywinning positions in the Premier too, although as only five of the 25 contenders were from the county, it is perhaps not surprising. The best “home” performer was Shrewsbury's Francis Best, whose score of four in the Major for players of intermediate strength would have been enough to win in some previous years, but he had to be content with equal second, half a point behind Martyn Harris of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Graham Shepherd of Church Stretton shared the prize for best performance by a player graded under 140, earning £12.50 for his efforts.
Champion in the Minor was Rugeley's Paul Jackson on 4.5. Oswestry's Alf Evans and Newport's Richard Szwajkun shared a under-105 grading prize, and Peter Mellor of Telford-based Coddon shared the prize for best junior performer.
Principal organiser Richard Thompson, of Shifnal & Telford Chess Club, said: ”I think that under the circumstances it's gone extremely well.The atmosphere seems to have been good. It was a bit sad we lost about 10 entrants or so because of the weather. There were others who did not enter because of the weather, and some withdrew half way through. Everybody enjoyed themselves and that's the main thing.”
He also praised the efforts of the caterers who were a “scratch team” who came in at the last minute.- Toby Neal

Wrekin Congress 2009

Russell James (South Birmingham) is this year’s Premier winner with 4/5.

In round two John Footner missed that Russell had lost on time and despite having a big material advantage ended up stalemating him. This was the break Russell needed and going into the last round had a half point lead.

It was déjà vu for Gavyn Cooper who as last year again needed to win this time to be outright winner. Russell however managed the half point required leaving Gavyn in a six way tie for second.

Ieuan Fenton (Oswestry) won the major with 4.5/5.

Ieuan is also a future controller and combined running the minor event with an impressive over the board display.

Athar Mehmood (Newport) won the minor with a perfect 5/5.

Needing only a draw in the last round Athar turned down a perpetual check and instead went on to win comfortably to complete the only 100% of the tournament.

Wrekin Congress 2009 Results
	Premier		Major		Minor
1st	Russell James	4	Ieuan Fenton	4.5	Athar Mehmood	5
2^nd=	Nigel Ferrington Craig Whitfield Andrew McCumiskey Trevor Brotherton Jonathan Nelson Gavyn Cooper	3.5	Brendan Clarke Mike O’Mahoney Geoff Lee Toby Neal	4	Stephen Cooper Philip Zabrocki Nathaniel Paul	4
Grade	U 175 Simon Hughes	3	U135 Ed Goodwin	3.5	U85 Michael Bolan Alan Woolaston	3.5
Grade			U125 Peter Oliver	3	U75 Shakeel Choudhury	3.5
Veteran			Alan Ruffle	3.5
Top Junior					Peter Mellor	3.5

There were 107 entries this year, 11 up on last year and back to the sort of number that makes it profitable without being overcrowded. The room was set out as requested and the lunchtime tables were avoided this year. It meant we had to have three boards on some of the lower tables but this didn’t present a problem. Dave Thomas was held up by a train delay but got to the venue just before the scheduled ten o’clock start. Late entries and the associated seating problems resulted in a half hour delay which was made up during the day. The centre staff were helpful as always. The Prize fund was again increased from the advertised figures. Thanks to everyone who helped in whatever capacity (see below). I hope to see you all next year. Colin Roberts

Pictures from the congress 2009

Thanks go to Controller Dave Thomas, Assistant Controllers Keith Grice and Ieuan Fenton.

Gareth Ellis and Donna from Chessmaze Int. who supplied the clocks, sets, scoresheets, pairing cards as well as the bookstall.

Mandy, Tab who provided the refreshments and Laura who helped run the stand.

To everyone who helped set up / tidy up before during and after the event especially Windsor, Richard, Stefan and Iain

The Court Centre staff who were excellent.

To all those who gave a donation and finally for everyone who played without whose support the congress would not exist