Surrey Easter Congress — 2000

Carshalton · 21–24 April 2000 · CCF report by Scott Freeman

About the 2000 Congress

The Surrey County Chess Association contracted out the Easter Congress after 25 years of the event being run by Bill Waterton, Martin Cath and Fred Manning. Coulsdon Chess Fellowship took on the running of the whole event.

The congress moved from Sutton Library to Carshalton. The report says the previous Sutton Library venue cost about £1,000 more, and the space formerly used for the Minor and Novice sections had been turned into office space.

Entry fees were mostly held at the previous year’s prices, but the report notes disappointment at the lack of Novice entries and concern over the number of mid-event withdrawals.

Dates21–24 Apr
Easter 2000
VenueCarshalton
new venue
Sections8
plus special prizes
Players listed281
main sections + blitz

Organising context

Bill Waterton, Martin Cath and Fred Manning stepped back after 25 years. All three visited, and Fred Manning also played, scoring 2½ points.

Archive treatment

The data below is structured from the CCF summary, with punctuation and spellings kept close to the source where practical.

Main prize winners

SectionPlayersPrize winnersPrizes
Frank Winter Memorial Open601 Andrew Webster (South Norwood) 6/7; 2–4 John Benjamin (Richmond), Graeme Buckley (Bushbury), Peter Kemp (Streatham) 5½£400; £117
Premier U170411 Andrew Horton-Kitchlew (ISH) 6/7; 2 Craig Young (St Albans) 5½; 3–6 Dominic Gibbs (Flying Teapots), Martin Page (Insurance), Ido Porat (Israel) 5£240; £120; £30
Major U145501–2 George Coomber (Coulsdon & Purley), Russell Goodfellow (Tunbridge Wells) 6/7; 3 Stuart Hamilton (Coulsdon & Purley) 5½; 4–7 Lucy Broomfield (South Norwood), CJ De Mooi (Brighton), Norman Harris (Charlton), Adrian Waldock (Guildford/Richmond) 5£180; £80; £10
Minor A U120451–2 Sarah Hegarty (Woking), Edward Leung (Richmond Juniors) 4½/5; 3–4 Keith Findley (South Norwood), Tristan Clayton 4£90; £30
Minor B U120421 Paul Seet 5/5; 2 Edward Leung (Richmond Juniors) 4½/5; 3 Joseph Farrell (Metropolitan) 4; 4–10 Victor Bluett (Wallington), James Chapman (Danson), Robert Davidson (Brighton), Anthony Duncan (Islington), David Howes (Coulsdon & Purley), Daniel Lappage (Magdalen College School), David Wheatley 3½£120; £60; £40; £3
Novice A U90241 Ashley Hegarty (Woking) 5/5; 2–3 Fergus Brown (Surbiton), Fergus Brown (Surbiton) 4£100; £36
Novice B U90171 Brian Williamson (Coulsdon & Purley) 4½/5; 2–4 Yasmin Ball (Maidenhead), Fred Coombes (Metropolitan), Alan Fraser (Beckenham & Bromley) 3½£100; £25

The source appears to repeat “Fergus Brown (Surbiton)” in Novice A for both 2nd–3rd place. I have left this unchanged rather than silently “correcting” it.

Open Blitz

52 players

PrizeWinner(s)ScorePrize
1stDanny Gormally (Coulsdon & Purley)6½/7£50
Grading U200Shi Porat (Israel)£25
Grading U170Ido Porat (Israel), Ross Rattray (Richmond Juniors), Thomas Rendle (Hastings)5£9
Grading U140Jonathan Somekh (Richmond Juniors)£25
Grading U110Nicholas Lai Baranga (Barnet Knights)4£25
Grading U80Daniel Gliddon (Coulsdon & Purley)3£25

Special prizes and trophies

The Hawson Trophy was given to SCCA by the family of John Hawson, described in the report as a stalwart of both the Congress and the County.

Source notes

The CCF summary says full tournament charts would shortly be available on the CCF website. It also records a discussion about reducing withdrawals, including “naming and shaming” and possibly requesting deposits.

CCF SummaryScott FreemanSCCACoulsdon Chess Fellowship