Worcester Closed Chess Congress 2019

Jeremy Fallowfield wins 2019 congress

The third of recent closed congresses was held at The King’s School Worcester on Saturday and Sunday 17th and 18 August. The tournament was controlled by Andrew Farthing and the event was organised by Ray Collett. The entry was low, but it included the many higher graded county players. It was a relaxed event for the organisers and enjoyable for the players.

Leftt: the playing hall in the Keyes Building at The King’s School Worcester
Right: Controller Andrew Farthing and organiser Ray Collett

The event was run as a single five round tournament with players permitted to take a half-point bye in rounds 1 to 4. There were awards for the winner (Worcestershire individual champion), highest scoring female (Worcestershire women’s champion), highest scoring player aged over-70 (Veteran champion), highest scoring aged over 60 (Senior champion) and highest scoring player graded under 130.

There was drama before the start of play. The defending champion had to withdraw because of an incident early in the morning of round 1.

The event was organised by Ray Collett and the tournament controlled by Andrew Farthing. Over £100 was raised for St Richard’s Hospice by Andrew’s chess book stall. The association is most grateful to the headteacher and governors of The King’s School Worcester for hosting the tournament.

The event was reported by Worcester News 29 August 2019