48th Nottingham Congress

The 48th Nottingham Congress took place at a later time (10-11 May) than our more usual late March/April berth. This was not our preference, but 4NCL dates occupying the first three April weekends, EPSCA dates and a March event at our venue, Nottingham High School, forced our hand. This timing probably accounts for our numbers (138) being far less than last year (172) although they were not massively less than 2023 (153). The proximity of GCSE, A Level and university exams, together with some county Quarter-Final fixtures and Megafinals probably provide the bulk of the explanation. We hope to return to a more usual weekend in 2026.

A summary of results are below. Details of the tournament can be found on Chess Results. Thanks to bookstall provider Mike who donated five books, we were able to offer Slow-Starter prizes to the best performers who didn’t score more than one point from their first three games and who didn’t win a cash prize.

We are very grateful to the Nottinghamshire Chess Foundation which provided the £525 prize fund for the Improvers’ section. Fortunately, our numbers were sufficient and did not require us to activate the NCF’s much-appreciated loss guarantee.

As usual, we provided a tea and coffee facility with proceeds heading to the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal. £187.50 including Gift Aid was raised. Thanks are due particularly to Indika and Shaman Gunarathne and to Marc Richmond for running this.

Thanks as always to: the Control Team of Phill Beckett and Hambel Willow (both recently elevated to FIDE arbiters – congratulations!) Stephen Humphreys, Simon Scott and John Swain; NCA Treasurer Stuart Humphreys for organising prize payments and refunds; the Nottinghamshire Primary Schools Chess Association for the loan of boards, sets and some clocks; finally, many thanks to those who helped to complete setting up on Saturday morning and especially to those who assisted on Sunday afternoon after end of play with moving furniture and collecting chess equipment.

Open

1st
Mark Hebden – £250

2nd=
Alan Agnew – £56 each
Ieysaa Bin-Suhayl
Senith Gunarathne
Qixiang Han

Rating Prize
Alex Gan – £25 each
Felipe Almeida Lessa

Slow Starter
Matthew O’Donnell

The MCCU British Championship nomination goes to Senith Gunarathne.

Major

1st
Matthew Inglis – £250

2nd=
Carl Gartside – £75 each
Joseph Greco
Amrik Singh

Rating Prize
Joseph Stringer – £50

Slow Starter
Nick London

Intermediate

1st=
Tom Adams – £200 each
Nicolas Rojas

3rd=
Stephen Chadaway – £15 each
Neil Homer
Dave Peardon
Paul Wileman
Martyn Winn

Rating Prize
Tadeusz Gumulka – £17 each
Andrew Thompson
Roger Walker

Slow Starter
Albert Chacko

Minor

1st=
Terry Bennett – £119 each
Dhamindra Gunarathne
Stephanie Gelder
Adam Sisson

Rating Prize
Prakhar Saxena – £50

Slow Starter
Ufuk Kachak

Improvers

1st
Samyuktha Vijayendra – £250

2nd
Nadia Prokofjeva – £150

3rd=
Alison Walton – £38 each
Yan Kho Wen

Rating Prize
Adam Amirthanathan – £17 each
Kirill Prokofjevs
Swetark Verma

Slow Starter
Dhruv Jeejesh