Bangor Marina Outdoor Blitz Championship 2020

Tournament Report

Saturday 12 September from 10am to 12 noon

Players travelled from far and wide to enjoy 2 hours of chess in the sunshine and fresh air at Bangor Marina.

Congratulations to Adam Rushe (1438) from Newtownards, scoring 5/6 to be crowned Champion. Bangor Chess Club Treasurer James O’Fee was hot on his heels with an impressive 4.5/6 to clinch the silver cup. Greenisland’s Chris Dorrian played some excellent games to win 3rd place on tie-break, with Evan Elwood from Millisle also finishing on 3.5 points, after joining the tournament in Round 3. Meanwhile, 15 year old Calum Glendinning (1059) from Holywood won the trophy for ‘Best Young Player’ with 3/6.

It was also great to see so many of the other chess faces again, with Tony Scullion (1262) travelling from Antrim and taking excellent photos of the event, Adrian Dornford-Smith (1176) from Toomebridge, 7 year old chess prodigy Ethan Cole (939) from Belfast, Richard McClean (1052) from Bangor and George Gamble (643) from Newtownards.

With 10 minutes each on the clock, everyone enjoyed the 6 rounds of blitz chess. Bangor Chess Club were thanked for funding the little trophies and Brendan Jamison, the organiser, received a round of applause for arranging the morning chess buzz. He said ”It feels wonderful playing outdoors in the fresh air and it is definitely something that could continue on a much larger scale in the years to come. Obviously with the nature of outdoor events, it depends on the weather so tournaments need to be arranged at quite short notice. Hopefully we can hold another blitz before the cold weather sets in. Stay tuned...”

A 1 minute YouTube video captures the magic of the event https://youtu.be/n-SJM4ypioA

Final Standings and photos: