Ayr Congress 2013 Round-up

[David G Congalton]

Photo slideshow from the congress has now been uploaded onto the congress website home page.

Full results are now available in the events processed for grading pages of the Chess Scotland website.

I will update both the congress website and the Chess Scotland forum with a full list of prize winners over the next few days.

For those that won prize money but weren't at the prize giving to collect - Andy Howie, John McNicoll and myself would like to thank you for the lovely, expensive meal we had after the event and the several bottles of champagne.

Sorry, it is Friday. Cheques will be sent out on Monday, June 3rd, to all prize winners who were unable to stay for the prize giving.

[David G Congalton]

Open
1st – Clement Sreeves (Edinburgh & Helensburgh) 4 ½ / 5 - £150, Phyllis Anderson Cup and Gold Medal

2nd (on tie break) – Andrew Green (Edinburgh) 4/5 - £75 and Silver Medal

3rd (on tie break) – Calum MacQueen (Edinburgh and Giffnock) 4/5 - £75 and Bronze Medal

Under 2100 Grading Prize – Elliot Frew (Greenwood), David Oswald (Edinburgh), Tom Donohue (Hamilton), Raj Bhopal (Edinburgh & Wandering Dragons), James Doyle (Shettleston) and Neil Thomson (Giffnock & Greenwood) 3/5 - £5 each.

Under 1860 Grading Prize – Ali Roy (Carrick) 2 ½ / 5 - £25

West of Scotland Champion – Clement Sreeves – West of Scotland Trophy & £50


Major
1st (on tie break) – Kai Pannwitz (Inverness) 4/5 - £60, George Congalton Cup and Gold Medal

2nd (on tie break) – Andrew MacQueen (Giffnock) 4/5 - £60 and Silver Medal

3rd (on tie break) – Jim Kleboe (Kilmarnock) 4/5 - £60 and Bronze medal

4th = (on tie break) – Michael Ash (Musselburgh) and David Hall (Perth) 4/5 - £60

Under 1600 Grading Prize – Arthur McCurley (Ayr) 3 ½ / 5 - £25

1500 and Under Grading Prize – Sandy Storey (Edinburgh University) and James Watson (Polytechnic) 3 ½ / 5 - £13 each.

West of Scotland Under 1850 Champion – Joint winners Andrew MacQueen and Jim Kleboe – West of Scotland Under 1850 Trophy & £25 each.


Minor
1st – John Pearston (Cumbernauld) 4 ½ / 5 – £150, Catharine Orrock Cup and Gold Medal

2nd – Billy Reid (Paisley) 4/5 - £100 and Silver Medal

3rd (on tie break) – Derek Coope (Oban) - £13 and Bronze Medal

4th = (on tie break) – Tony Clarke (Polytechnic), Roland Fraser (Paisley), Callum McGillivary (Edinburgh), Brian Millward (Ayr), David King (Musselburgh), Eddie McColm (Ardrossan) & Richard Heathwood (Pentland Hills) – All £13 each

Grading Prizes were amalgamated with 3rd prize.

West of Scotland Under 1450 Champion – John Pearston – West of Scotland Under 1450 Trophy & £50.


Iain Fraser Junior Cup
1st – Jack Stewart (Greenwood) - £75, Iain Fraser Junior Cup and Gold Medal

2nd – Colin Howie (East Kilbride) - £50 and Silver Medal

3rd – Declan Shafi (Castlehill) - £25 and Bronze Medal


Ali Roy Women’s Cup
Winner – Stuthi Hegde (George Heriots) - £50, Ali Roy Cup and Gold Medal


Giant Killer Prize
Winner – Jack Stewart - £40 (R2 Major v J. Armour, grading difference 753 points)

[Andrew McHarg]

Some fantastic results here. 8)

[D-Oswald]

Fantastic event, really enjoyed it!

Not sure if you were planning on posting out a cheque for my GP=, but if you were please don't, keep the £5 as a small donation (if it hadn't already contributed to the champagne )!

[George Pyrich]

Nice to hear that the Congress went well but surprised not to read any comments about the incremental time controls - I may be wrong but I think the first Scottish Congress to have these?! As a Congress Organiser I should be interested to know.
How did things work out? Was everyone happy with the innovation? Did any games threaten to overrun the 4½ hours allocated in the schedule or were all games completed well within this? Were there adverse comments about the 4½ hours on the Friday evening? Presumably crazy time scrambles were eliminated but, dare I ask, did the quality of the play improve?

[Keith Rose]

I too would be interested in the reaction/thoughts of organisers and players. Is this the way to go or does it create more problems than it solves?

[David G Congalton]

Rounds 3 and 5 started at the scheduled time.

The start time for round 4 was put back a half hour to accommodate some who were commuting to the event and this did curtail the lunch break for a handful involved in longer games on the Sunday. I was concerned at one point that there might be a problem and it did mean that there was less time than I would probably have liked for the fifth round draw to be made and the between round admin to be carried out.

Working out how to set the silver clocks meant reading the instructions and involved pressing more buttons than when setting the DGT clocks.

There were a few questions from players in the first two rounds but I think everybody adapted.

Overall, from an organisational point of view, I was happy with the introduction of the incremental time control and intend to use them at the South Ayrshire Congress in January and next year's Ayr congress.

However, I have reverted to the two hours for all moves for the Inverness congress in September. The reasoning behind this is that Inverness is a new event and I'm unsure of where the entrants will travel from and how many will be looking to catch public transport home on the Sunday. With the last train to Glasgow being relatively early I have opted for the safety net of finite sessions. I did toy with the idea of three or four rounds with incremental and a finite final round but decided against this in the end. I also looked at reducing the time control to 60 or 75 minutes with 30 second increments, instead of 90 minutes. In the end I refrained from experimenting too much with this new event, although I may consider trying something with a centrally located event next year.

A few players at Ayr commented favourably on the time control and I haven't received any negative feedback.