[Pictured L to R: David Clayton (Arbiter), Chris Ross (Open winner), Bill Armstrong (BCA Chairman), Steve Bailey (Challengers winner), Alan Atkinson (Arbiter)]
John Ramm writes:
As my train drew into Milton Keynes station, I was wondering how well I would cope with a five round tournament where I had chosen to enter the open section along with players all rated higher than myself … but that’s how to learn … right?
Travelling as a totally blind person is a constant adventure, but a taxi soon dropped me at the Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, the venue for the tournament and our hotel. I was escorted to my room, which was in a separate building from the reception, accessed through a covered corridor, thankfully. After I’d settled in it was off to the first building for dinner, then off to a third building for some chess.
I had my board of course but was very grateful that people had brought clocks as I don’t possess one myself as I don’t usually play in person and accessible clocks are expensive, like most other accessible things. There were 11 players in the Open section of the tournament, and 10 in the Challengers section where it became clear that I should have been as the weekend progressed.
For the first round I was drawn against Joseph D’Mello, who had travelled with his wife and daughter all the way from India to take part. He was rated 1603 FIDE – I was rated 1300 estimated. Joseph beat me fairly easily and, after a long day, I was happy to get to bed after a quick visit to the bar, which was not especially easy to find on a mezzanine level above the restaurant. There I met an excellent bar tender who was happy to tell me which ales they had, and even to find me a bottle of something lovely that had not been in the fridge.
Saturday saw me beaten by Daniel Rugman and Mark Hague respectively, while the leadership of the open section was hotting up between Chris Ross and Gary Hogan. In the Challengers section Rosie Irwin, a newcomer to BCA tournaments was doing well with 2.5 out of a possible 3 points.
On Sunday morning I was comfortably beaten by Richard Murphy so had a total of 0 points for the competition so far. I was very clear by now that I’d been overambitious by placing myself in the Open section and was expecting a final score of 0, but I was thwarted by the draw in the afternoon when I was awarded a point for a bye due to the odd number of players in the group. Meanwhile at the top of my group Chris Ross was playing to his rating and finished the competition with a maximum of 5 points followed by Gary Hogan with 4 points. In joint third place were our Chair Bill Armstrong and Voldi Gailans on 3 points which meant that Voldi won the prize for a U1450 player in this group – excellent work Voldi.
In the Challengers section Stephen Bailey won with 4.5 points, closely followed by Rosie Irwin on 4 points. The third prize was shared by Abi Baker, John Fullwood and Simon Highsmith who all gained 3 points. I didn’t manage to attend the prize giving ceremony directly after round 5 as I’d taken advantage of my fifth round bye and was totally lost in Milton Keynes, but that’s a completely different story.
In this tournament, as in others, the kindness of those who help us along the way was incredibly helpful and made the event hugely easier for those of us who cannot see. I’d like to thank all the sighted members who help so selflessly and just remind them that they need to relax and eat too, from time to time! Thanks also to the organiser, John Fullwood, who did an excellent job. Our arbiters were Alan Atkinson, who’d stepped in at the last minute when Gerry Walsh became unavailable due to health issues, and David Clayton. Together with our steward, Tris Cole, they made a great team of tournament officials!
Open Final Ranking
On 5 points: CM Chris Ross – 1st Prize and Trophy.
On 4 points: Gary Hogan – 2nd Prize.
On 3 points: Voldi Gailans and Bill Armstrong – joint 3rd prize. Voldi also won the U1450 Rating Prize.
On 2.5 points: Joseph D’Mello and Richard Murphy.
On 2 points: Bittor Ibanez and Dan Rugman.
On 1.5 points: Mark Hague and Gary Wickett.
On 1 point: John Ramm
Challengers Final Ranking
On 4.5 points: Steve Bailey – 1st Prize and Trophy.
On 4 points: Rosie Irwin – 2nd Prize.
On 3 points: John Fullwood, Simon Highsmith and Abi Baker – joint 3rd prize.
On 2.5 points: John Osborne.
On 2 points: Phil Rafferty – U1000 Rating Prize.
On 1.5 points: Richard Harrington
On 1 point: Lea Ryan and Clare Gailans.
We had a well lit playing room, with plenty of space for the guide dogs to stretch out!
