Everyone enjoyed the open air chess blitz at Whitehead Railway Museum. Sat 3rd Oct 2020

Everyone enjoyed today’s open air chess blitz at Whitehead Railway Museum.

Saturday 3 October 2020

Congratulations to 15 year old Calum Glendinning from Holywood, crowned champion at today’s outdoor blitz in Whitehead. Steam trains rolled past as players enjoyed competing at the historic museum and sipped on hot drinks from the Edwardian Tea Room.

The 2nd place trophy went to Gatis Barbals from Portadown, delivering many fine wins to end with 4.5 points out of 6. Hot on his heels, Danny Roberts chalked up 4 points to secure the bronze trophy for 3rd Place.

Newcomer Maikel Podean won the Under 1425 Rating Award, having built up incredible momentum at outdoor chess over the past 3 weeks. 8 year old child chess prodigy Ethan Cole was proving his vast improvement as he demolished several of the adult players to win the Under 1200 Rating Award.

In total, 12 players battled it out over 6 rounds of 6+6. The picnic tables were sheltered overhead. Special thanks to Chris Dorrian for arranging the venue and setting up the equipment with Edward Hanzharov. The Chief Aribiter was Brendan Jamison with Evan Elwood as Deputy Arbiter.

The players extended their sincere thanks to Whitehead Railway Museum for offering such a wonderful location for a chess tournament. Organiser Brendan Jamison stated “We adored the museum, the staff are super friendly and when the steam engines rolled by, we became enveloped

by the magic ambience of this unique place.”

12 Entrants:

Danny Roberts 1727

Gerard Obasi 1585

Gatis Barbals 1444

Adam Rushe 1438

Edward Hanzharov 1417

Chris Dorrian 1390

Andrew Todd 1379

Maikel Podean 1372

Evan Elwood 1273

Adrian Dornford-Smith 1176

Calum Glendinning 1059

Ethan Cole 939