This year’s BCA British Championship was held from the 22nd to the 29th of June at The Old Swan, a familiar venue to the BCA for some time now. The BCA is very grateful for the generous support of The Sylvia and Colin Shepherd Charitable Trust, who very kindly gave a donation towards the cost of this tournament.
Steve and Hazel Burnell were the organisers and their customary efficiency ensured that everything possible was done to facilitate a well-run and successful event. Unfortunately, Steve and Hazel were unable to attend and were greatly missed by us all. Gill Smith and Tanvi Muir kindly took over as organisers and did a wonderful job, liaising with staff and ensuring that we were all looked after during our stay.
We were blessed with some excellent weather on most of the days we were there and there were plenty of seats and tables out at the front of the hotel and the staff were extremely helpful in showing us to the seating area and around the hotel generally. This was supplemented by our usual sighted helpers in our party, whose assistance was invaluable to us all.
The food was good and the hotel comfortable and the timetable ran smoothly as service at mealtimes was generally very good.
Several events were organised to supplement the chess activities: Gerry Walsh organised a How Good is Your Chess session, attended by six people; a party of sixteen or so visited a nearby brewery which, as well as providing an interesting insight into beer production, offered generous samples to our visitors, some of these finding their way into a selection of raffle prizes and were no doubt enjoyed by the lucky winners. The raffle itself, organised by Celia Gibbs, took place after the prize-giving on our last evening.
Gill smith organised a “Call My Bluff” session on the Tuesday evening and our usual soirée took place on Wednesday, compered for the first time by Frank Kirkham, with our usual band of musicians, Tanvi, Thuy Mallalieu, Gary Wickett and Julie Leonard, with vocals by Brandan Read, a new member, taking part in his first BCA event as top seed.
On Thursday evening Tristram Cole, who acted as steward for the tournament, organised a quiz which was well attended. After the prize-giving and raffle on our last evening we had a singsong and the highlight was our rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, which we all sang for Graham Lilley, in whose memory this tournament took place. We were delighted to have with us for the last two days Jon and Maria Lilley, Graham’s brother and his wife and it was fitting that they should witness the singing of the anthem of Graham’s football team, Liverpool.
We were also very pleased to have Norman and Pauline Wragg staying with us for most of the week. Although Norman wasn’t playing on this occasion it was good to have him and Pauline with us. Steve Gibson of English Deaf Chess popped in during the week. In addition, we had a visit from IM Chris Baker, a long-time friend of the BCA, who was with us at Hastings in 1982 when we held the IBCA World Championship in this country. Chris was accompanied by his other half, Julie. On the Tuesday evening, Chris presented Bill with his trophy for winning Division 1 of the 2024 BCA Spring Email tournament.
Also joining us for a couple of nights was Olly Leonard, who celebrated his birthday on the Wednesday. This was one of three birthdays during the week, with Olle Engström from Sweden already having had his birthday on the Sunday and Dan Rugman following up with his on the Friday.
The tournament started on Saturday evening after dinner. Seventeen players took part although, of course, not everyone played in all the rounds due to byes, either requested or enforced.
In addition to Brandan, Ben Fletcher-Harris and Alfie Uglow were also first-time participants in BCA events and all three were welcomed by us all.
Round 1 went according to seedings, apart from a creditable result for Tony Lawton, who drew with Mark Kirkham.
In round 2 Ian Blencowe managed a draw against Brandan Read, our top seed. At this point Bill Armstrong had a perfect score, with Brandan and Stan a half a point behind.
In round 3 Dan Rugman drew with Norman Andrews, with a 130 point rating difference in favour of Norman, and Gill Smith beat Ben Fletcher-Harris, and here Gill was rated almost 200 points lower than Ben. Bill Armstrong was top of the tree with Ian Blencowe on 2.5, followed by six players on 2 points.
In Round 4, Alfie Uglow scored his first BCA win, beating Tony Lawton. Bill re-established his lead over the rest of the field with a victory against Ian, and the results of the rest of the chasing pack were as expected.
At this point, unfortunately, Alfie had to withdraw from the tournament due to illness. Julie wished him a speedy recovery on behalf of us all.
Round 5 saw a decisive win for Bill over Stan, giving Bill a clear lead.
In round 6, Bill beat Brandan to clinch the title of BCA British Champion for the fifth time!
At this point Ben Fletcher-Harris on 3 points was ahead in the Challengers’, followed by Tony Lawton, Gill Smith and Voldi Gailans on 2.5.
In the last round Mark Kirkham gained a good draw against Bill, with a 100 points rating difference in Bill’s favour, leaving Mark in second place.
In the Challengers’, Voldi Gailans, Ben Fletcher-Harris and Gill Smith finished on 3.5, with Voldi winning the Challengers’ Trophy, The Graham Lilley Cup, on tie-break.
Final Scores were:-
6 points: Bill Armstrong BCA British Champion and winner of the Graham Lilley Cup for the Open section.
5 points: Mark Kirkham 2nd in the Open.
4.5 points: Brandan Read, Ian Blencowe and Stan Lovell. All joint 3rd in the Open, with Ian picking up Rating Prize A.
4 points: Richard Murphy, who won an extra prize that cascaded down from the score group above.
3.5 points: Norman Andrews, Olle Engström (SWE) together with the three joint winners of the Challengers’ section, Voldi Gailans, Gill Smith and Ben Fletcher- Harris.
3 points: John Jenkins and Tony Lawton. Tony won Rating Prize B.
2.5 points: George Phillips.
2 points: Dan Rugman.
1.5 points: Alfie Uglow and Abi Baker.
In conclusion, I would like to thank, on behalf of all who attended this event, Steve and Hazel Burnell for the huge amount of work in organising this event, Gill Smith and Tanvi Muir for standing in at the last minute to keep things running smoothly, Celia Gibbs for all her work in organising the raffle, which raised the splendid sum of £205, all those who ran our entertainment, Richard Murphy for organising the brewery trip, Julie Leonard for her tireless work not only controlling the tournament, but organising the soirée and also keeping everyone informed of the round-by-round results. Particular thanks too to Gerry Walsh who, as always, was an excellent Chief Arbiter who, along with Julie and our steward, Tristram Cole, ensured that the event ran smoothly and was most enjoyable. Thanks to you all!
Voldi Gailans