This tournament was held in memory of Peter Gibbs, who passed away last summer. It was fitting that the event took place in Leicestershire – the county in which Peter had lived for many years. Celia Gibbs joined us for the weekend.
The exact venue was the Leicester Hilton Hotel and this was the first event that the association had organised there. People found their rooms very spacious and comfortable, with the added convenience of the whole group getting ground floor rooms. If anyone was unsure of their route to the playing room, which was also on the ground floor, help was never far away! The food was excellent and, for those who had some free time, there was a swimming pool and a gym. The playing room was well lit and comfortable.
On Saturday lunchtime we had a visit from Nene Clayton, who usually only plays in our online or email events. Members very much enjoyed meeting her in person! She received a huge round of applause when she was presented with two trophies that she’d won in the 2023 Remote Summer Cup. To her surprise, there was more to come! Norman Andrews, who had judged the 2023 Annual Best Game Competition, announced that he had selected one of Nene’s games as the winning entry!
Our AGM was held on the Saturday evening. Some very longstanding committee members stood down from their posts and were warmly thanked for all their hard work and dedication. Gill Smith stood down as Treasurer after a massive 15 years on the committee. Steve Burnell stood down as Chair of the Tournament Subcommittee. Steve and Hazel Burnell also retired as tournament organisers. Voldi Gailans stood down as Coaching Officer and Junior Development Officer.
Also at the AGM, Colin Chambers was elected an Honorary Life Member of the association in recognition of his international performances dating back to 1972 and more recently, his ‘Radio Cheltenham’ emails that keep people informed about goings on in the BCA and give us a real sense of community.
There had been some unexpected results in the first three rounds of the tournament. So by the start of round 4 the only players on three points from three rounds were George Phillips and Steve Burnell. They played each other and Steve won, leaving him in sole lead of the tournament. Malcolm Jones was leading in the Challengers’ group (under 1300) with 2.5 points. With one more game to go, there was everything to play for.
In the final round, Steve Burnell faced our current BCA Champion, Stan Lovell. Despite Stan’s best efforts, Steve Burnell completed his clean sweep! Malcolm Jones, however, was beaten by Voldi Gailans, who was having a great tournament. John Fullwood and Bittor Ibanez overtook Malcolm to finish joint top of the Challengers.
The final standings were as follows: –
In first place with a perfect score of 5 points was Steve Burnell, who won the Peter Gibbs Memorial Open trophy.
In second place with 4 points: Voldi Gailans
In third place with 3.5 points: George Phillips
On three points were: Bittor Ibanez and John Fullwood, who finished joint first in the Challengers section, with Bittor winning the Peter Gibbs Memorial Challengers trophy on tie-break. Also on three points: Richard Murphy, Stan Lovell, Bill Armstrong.
In third place in the Challengers with 2.5 points: Malcolm Jones.
On two points were: John Osborne, Tony Lawton, Gill Smith, who shared Grading Prize A. Also on two points: Simon Highsmith, Steve Bailey, Colin Chambers.
On one point were: Richard Harrington and Phil Rafferty, who shared Grading Prize B.
Many congratulations to all the prize winners!
The BCA would like to thank:
- Phil Rafferty and John Osborne for their hard work in finding the hotel and organising a very successful tournament.
- Arbiters, James Connors and Gerry Walsh who kept everybody under control
- Steward, Norman Andrews, who always helped when required.
Here’s a game from the winner of the Peter Gibbs Memorial Trophy, Steve Burnell.
Steve writes:
After four rounds I had four points, with my nearest rivals a full point behind. For the last round I had black against Stan Lovell, who was clearly going to go all out for a win. This was reflected in Stan’s opening play which promised an entertaining and exciting game. Pushing the King’s side pawns forward so quickly always looks rather intimidating for the opponent, but the downside of this approach is that the pawns can be rather vulnerable to attack. This proved to be the case on move 17 when White’s f5 pawn was captured and much of the pressure was taken out of the pawn push. During the remainder of the game, other pawns also proved vulnerable to capture with no real compensation for White.
Event: BCA AGM Congress, Leicester, Round 5, 17th March 2024, Stan Lovell v Steve Burnell
- d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c6 4. e3 Bf5 5. f3 e6 6. g4 Bg6 7. h4 h6 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bd6 10. Nge2 Bxf4
- exf4 Nbd7 12. O-O-O Qc7 13. g5 Nh5 14. f5 Nf4 15. Qe3 Nxe2+ 16. Qxe2 Qf4+ 17. Kb1 Qxf5
- Rdg1 h5 19. Nd1 O-O-O 20. Ne3 Qf4 21. Rd1 Nb6 22. Ng2 Qd6 23. Rd3 Nc4 24. Rb3 Qc7 25. g6 Rde8
- Qd3 fxg6 27. Ne3 Nxe3 28. Qxe3 Rhf8 29. Ra3 a6 30. Rh3 Rf4 31. Qe1 Rxd4 32. Re3 e5 33. c3 Rf4
- Rh2 Qd7 35. Rhe2 Qf5+ 36. Kc1 Rxf3 37. Rxf3 Qxf3 38. Kc2 Qf5+ 39. Kb3 e4 40. Rf2 Qe6 0-1