By Isle of Wight Observer
The first Isle of Wight Chess Congress took place at the Ryde Castle Hotel over last weekend, and featured 72 participants, with 41 travelling from the mainland.
The Open Section featured some exceptional play, with 10 titled players, a chess grandmaster and two British champions.
International master, Harry Grieve, clinched first place after securing a draw in the final round with Grandmaster, Keith Arkell.
Harry gave an exceptional performance and finished on 4.5 out of 5, to Keith’s 4 our of 5 after taking a Round Three bye.
Natasha Regan, an international master champion, secured the prize of Best Women’s Player, sponsored by Wightlink Ferries.
Two local players gave strong performances in the Open. FIDE master, Neil Dickenson, returned to tournament chess after over a decade and scored an impressive 3.5 out of 5, missing out on third place to a tie break.
Newcomer to tournaments, Islander, Joel Lloyd, scored 2.5 out of 5, with an impressive win with the black pieces and a draw against the very strong junior player, Shambavi Hariharan. Another Islander, David Collyer, representing Southampton University Chess, also gave a good performance in his first FIDE Open, securing points against much higher rated players.
The Championship Section was won by local player, Clive Bowley, who also won the Best Isle of Wight players’ prize. Michael Gidley came third also winning Best Over-65 IW player award.
The competition was sponsored by Wightlink.
