Queens run a brilliant tournament for the charity Childreach International

A week after the Williamson we have the opportunity for even more chess! Queens Chess Club run a weekender over three days to raise funds for Childreach International. Ben Campbell organised the event. With the team of Mark Newman and Brendan Jamison controlling.

I met Brendan at the venue at Queens early friday evening. We setup the room and entered the names into the computer. With an odd number of players and the team of Brendan and Mark controlling. It allowed me to play in the first round, allowing everyone to get a game. Brendan being top rated was the favourite. The venue of the Coffee Bar on the 2nd floor is an impressive hall - excellent for a chess tournament.

For prizes we decided that the bulk of the entrance should go to the Charity - Childreach International : https://www.childreach.org.uk/ we offered as prizes Simultaneous tickets, trophies for the winners and certificates for all placed players. All tbanks for the organisation and charity donation go to Ben Campbell.

It was going to be a tough tournament with some rising stars, Rian Mellotte , Daniil Zelenchuk, Edward Doak, Ram Rajan and some regulars chess players who can be briliant - John McKenna, Robert Lavery.

Will there be any upsets and will Brendan reach the winners position successfuly...... lets find out

Pairings round 1 (Friday, 03 February 2017)

Table	White	Rating	Black	Rating	Result
1	Brendan Jamison	1743 *	Edward Doak	1362 *	1-0
2	Daniil Zelenchuk	1260 *	Mark Newman	1724 *	0-1
3	Robert Lavery	1649 *	Ben Campbell	1010 *	1-0
4	Rian Mellotte	987 *	John McKenna	1510 *	1-0
5	Martin Kelly	1416 *	Tyrone Winter	944 *	1-0
6	Jasper Ramsey	835 *	Ram Rajan	1368 *	0-1

Draw by default	Utkarsh Gupta; Dmitry Zelenchuk; Geoff Hindley; Bhudhav Singh; Clark Rodriguez

Generated by Swiss Master for Windows on 05-02-2017 at 19:08

Daniil gives Mark a difficult game, with Rooks and pawns it was possibly a draw and Daniil offered a draw several times. Mark Played on and eventually the Rooks were swaped and the extra pawn won the game - very close. Rian plays brilliantly to get a win off John McKenna who is a strong contender particularly after last weeks tournament. Rian did well in the last tournament at Queens the Masters winning the under 1000 grading prize and coming 9th out of 25. All the rest of the games went to rating.

Pairings round 2 (Friday, 03 February 2017)

Table	White	Score	Rating	Black	Score	Rating	Result
1	Martin Kelly	1.0	1416 *	Brendan Jamison	1.0	1743 *	0-1
2	Ram Rajan	1.0	1368 *	Robert Lavery	1.0	1649 *	1-0
3	Utkarsh Gupta	0.5	1490 *	Rian Mellotte	1.0	987 *	1-0
4	Dmitry Zelenchuk	0.5	1223 *	Bhudhav Singh	0.5	624 *	1-0
5	Clark Rodriguez	0.5	0 *	Geoff Hindley	0.5	1040 *	1-0
6	John McKenna	0.0	1510 *	Ben Campbell	0.0	1010 *	1-0
7	Edward Doak	0.0	1362 *	Jasper Ramsey	0.0	835 *	1-0
8	Tyrone Winter	0.0	944 *	Daniil Zelenchuk	0.0	1260 *	½-½


Draw by default	Mark Newman

Ram Rajan beats Robert Lavery. Clark Rodriguez a new player takes a point of Geoff Hindley. Whilst Tyrone Winter gets a draw against Daniil Zelenchuk. Chess is never easy and theres no straightforward game.

Pairings round 3 (Saturday, 04 February 2017)

Table	White	Score	Rating	Black	Score	Rating	Result
1	Brendan Jamison	2.0	1743 *	Ram Rajan	2.0	1368 *	1-0
2	Mark Newman	1.5	1724 *	Dmitry Zelenchuk	1.5	1223 *	1-0
3	Clark Rodriguez	1.5	0 *	Utkarsh Gupta	1.5	1490 *	1-0
4	Robert Lavery	1.0	1649 *	John McKenna	1.0	1510 *	½-½
5	Rian Mellotte	1.0	987 *	Martin Kelly	1.0	1416 *	1-0
6	Geoff Hindley	0.5	1040 *	Edward Doak	1.0	1362 *	1-0
7	Bhudhav Singh	0.5	624 *	Tyrone Winter	0.5	944 *	0-1
8	Ben Campbell	0.0	1010 *	Daniil Zelenchuk	0.5	1260 *	0-1


Draw by default	Jasper Ramsey

Some more upsets. Geoff Hindley beats Edward Doak. Rian Mellotte continues his run of success and beats the tough player Martin Kelly. Whilst John McKenna beats Robert Lavery. Brendan maintains his unbeaten run.

Chatting to Jasper Ramsey I found out that he was taking a bye due to a clash with a Card game. Steven Rush has invented an excellent Card game with beautifully designed cards of based on myths. The game is called Other Gods - for more details see the facebook page: OtherGodsGame. I took the opportunity to drop into the group who were playing downstairs. I bought a couple of decks and Steven taught me to play, we had a short game and he easily beat me. It added to the fun of the weekend - Thanks Steven.

Pairings round 4 (Saturday, 04 February 2017)

Table	White	Score	Rating	Black	Score	Rating	Result
1	Mark Newman	2.5	1724 *	Brendan Jamison	3.0	1743 *	½-½
2	Ram Rajan	2.0	1368 *	Clark Rodriguez	2.5	0 *	½-½
3	Daniil Zelenchuk	1.5	1260 *	Rian Mellotte	2.0	987 *	½-½
4	Dmitry Zelenchuk	1.5	1223 *	Robert Lavery	1.5	1649 *	½-½
5	Utkarsh Gupta	1.5	1490 *	Geoff Hindley	1.5	1040 *	1-0
6	Edward Doak	1.0	1362 *	Martin Kelly	1.0	1416 *	1-0
7	Jasper Ramsey	0.5	835 *	Bhudhav Singh	0.5	624 *	1-0
8	Ben Campbell	0.0	1010 *	Rhys McLean	0.0	692 *	0-1

Draw by default	John McKenna; Tyrone Winter

The two favourites meet. Brendan plays Mark and a draw in a complicated position is agreed. Clark Rodriguez gets a good draw against Ram - Clarke although unrated is a play to reckon with. Rian plays excellently to get a draw off Daniil. Father Dmitry obtains a good draw against Robert Lavery whilst Rhys McLean who at short notice agreed to play wins against much higher rated player Ben Campbell.

Pairings round 5 (Sunday, 05 February 2017)

Table	White	Score	Rating	Black	Score	Rating	Result
1	Brendan Jamison	3.5	1743 *	Clark Rodriguez	3.0	0 *	1-0
2	Rian Mellotte	2.5	987 *	Mark Newman	3.0	1724 *	½-½
3	Ram Rajan	2.5	1368 *	Utkarsh Gupta	2.5	1490 *	1-0
4	John McKenna	2.0	1510 *	Dmitry Zelenchuk	2.0	1223 *	½-½
5	Tyrone Winter	2.0	944 *	Edward Doak	2.0	1362 *	0-1
6	Robert Lavery	2.0	1649 *	Jasper Ramsey	1.5	835 *	1-0
7	Martin Kelly	1.0	1416 *	Geoff Hindley	1.5	1040 *	1-0
8	Bhudhav Singh	0.5	624 *	Ben Campbell	0.0	1010 *	1-0

Draw by default	Daniil Zelenchuk

Rian continues to suprise and plays an excellent draw against Mark Newman. Dmitry continues to get results against higher rated players with a draw against John McKenna. Ram Rajan gets a good win against Utkarsh Gupta.

Pairings round 6 (Sunday, 05 February 2017)

Table	White	Score	Rating	Black	Score	Rating	Result
1	Robert Lavery	3.0	1649 *	Brendan Jamison	4.5	1743 *	½-½
2	Mark Newman	3.5	1724 *	Ram Rajan	3.5	1368 *	1-0
3	Clark Rodriguez	3.0	0 *	Rian Mellotte	3.0	987 *	1-0
4	Edward Doak	3.0	1362 *	John McKenna	2.5	1510 *	1-0
5	Utkarsh Gupta	2.5	1490 *	Daniil Zelenchuk	2.5	1260 *	0-1
6	Dmitry Zelenchuk	2.5	1223 *	Martin Kelly	2.0	1416 *	½-½
7	Geoff Hindley	1.5	1040 *	Bhudhav Singh	1.5	624 *	½-½
8	Ben Campbell	0.0	1010 *	Jasper Ramsey	1.5	835 *	1-0

Robert Lavery and Brendan Jamison agree a Grandmaster draw after about 15 moves. Brendan winning the tournament.

Ram Rajan tries a brilliant attack against Mark with a sacrifice of a Knight to open up the King and bring the Rooks baring down on an exposed King. Luckily for Mark there was a bishop fork of two Rooks and eventually the attack softened and with less pieces Ram had to accept defeat - but Mark breathed a big sigh of relief. Dmitry again got an excellent result drawing against Martin Kelly, whilst Daniil won against higher rated Utkarsh Gupta. Rian continued his success to end on 4 points.

Final

Rank	Name	Score	M/F	Rating	BH-HiLo	BH	PS	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Brendan Jamison	5.0	M	1743 *	15.0	22.0	19.0	1	1	1	½	1	½
2	Mark Newman	4.5	M	1724 *	14.5	21.5	16.0	1	=	1	½	½	1
3	Clark Rodriguez	4.0	M	0 *	13.0	19.0	14.5	=	1	1	½	0	1
4	Edward Doak	4.0	M	1362 *	9.5	16.0	11.0	0	1	0	1	1	1
5	Ram Rajan	3.5	M	1368 *	14.5	21.0	14.5	1	1	0	½	1	0
6	Daniil Zelenchuk	3.5	M	1260 *	11.5	16.5	10.0	0	½	1	½	=	1
7	Robert Lavery	3.5	M	1649 *	10.5	16.5	12.0	1	0	½	½	1	½
8	Rian Mellotte	3.0	M	987 *	12.5	19.5	12.5	1	0	1	½	½	0
9	Dmitry Zelenchuk	3.0	M	1223 *	11.5	18.0	11.0	=	1	0	½	½	½
10	Martin Kelly	2.5	M	1416 *	12.5	19.5	8.5	1	0	0	0	1	½
11	Utkarsh Gupta	2.5	M	1490 *	12.5	19.0	11.0	=	1	0	1	0	0
12	John McKenna	2.5	M	1510 *	12.0	17.5	9.5	0	1	½	=	½	0
13	Tyrone Winter	2.5	M	944 *	11.0	17.5	8.5	0	½	1	=	0	=
14	Geoff Hindley	2.0	M	1040 *	11.0	18.0	7.5	=	0	1	0	0	½
15	Bhudhav Singh	2.0	M	624 *	8.0	13.0	5.5	=	0	0	0	1	½
16	Jasper Ramsey	1.5	M	835 *	10.5	16.0	5.0	0	0	=	1	0	0
17	Rhys McLean	1.0	M	692 *	14.0	14.5	3.0	-	-	-	1	-	-
18	Ben Campbell	1.0	M	1010 *	11.5	16.5	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	1

The Winners

Seniors

Champion: Brendan Jamison

2nd: Mark Newman

3rd: Robert Lavery

Intermediates

Champion: Edward Doak

2nd: Ram Rajan

3rd: Daniil Zelenchuk

Juniors

Champion: Clark Rodriguez

2nd: Rian Mellotte

3rd: Tyrone Winter

The special award of Giant Slayer was given to Rian Mellotte.

Thanks to everyone a brilliant tournament with lots of excellent chess and a good amount of money raised for Childreach International.

See you at the next tournament.

winners