Author: Gawain

November 2004, Crete, Greece. The World Youth Championships took place in Crete from 4th-13th November. I played in the U18 section representing England and came 4th= out of the 90 or so players. The official website of the competition is: http://www.greekchess.com/wycc2004/wycc04.html. When I returned home I’ve found my IM (International Master) title has been ratified…

September 2004, Galway, Ireland. I played in the Infopoint Systems Galway Chess Congress 2004 and came 4th = with 4/6. A very enjoyable weekend tournament in a relaxing venue. The website is http://www.galwaychess.com. This was the 1st year it was held and I hope to play in it again next year.  

August 2004, Porto San Giorgio, Italy. I came 15= with 6/9. This tournament was a very enjoyable tournament by the sea and I was staying with some Italian friends who I hadn’t seen for a while. The website is http://www.torneoscacchi.it/edizioni/torneo.asp?codice=2004&torneo=open_a for the tournament.  

August 2004, Smith and Williamson British Championships, Scarborough. I came 10= and took the U21 title. I also received my final IM norm so should become an IM soon. The website is http://www.bcf.org.uk/events/bcf2004/index.html   

July 2004, Specsavers Young Masters, Millfield school, Somerset. Here I got 6.5/10 and 4th=. I had a chance for my final IM norm but unfortunately lost to the top seed in round 9. http://www.bowlerfc2001.fsnet.co.uk/ym/ is the official website.

July 2004, Irish Championships, Limerick. This was the first tournament I’ve won for a while with 6.5/9. Not being Irish yet I couldn’t take the title and this was taken by Joe Ryan. The website is http://members.fortunecity.com/irishchess/irish2004/irish_championship_2004.htm 

June-July 2004, K41 Closed IM tournament Copenhagen. Here I came 2nd with 6/9 and made an IM norm with a 2470 performance. Now I have 2 IM norms and a rating high enough for the IM title so all I need is one more IM norm.   

March-June 2004, Four Nations Chess League in England. I played for the Slough 2 team (now Sloughsharks) and made 6/6 including a win over the GM Mark Hebden and a rating performance of over 3000!  

March-April 2004, Italian Team Championships, Genova and Montecatini Terme. A team tournament in which I was board 1 for the Lucca team. It was held over two weekends; the first at Genova and the second at Montecatini Terme. During the first weekend I got 1 out of 2 beating an IM. The second I got…

April 9-12 Neckar Open Deizisau, Germany. A very strong open in which I got 6.5/9 drawing with a GM and just losing to 2GMs one of which won the tournament! I got a rating performance of 2475 and gained around 10 rating points. Here’s the final crosstable http://www.neckar-open.de/8noa_fort.HTM   

March 8-15 2004 Hotel Petra Torneo Chiuso Rome, Italy. A closed all-play-all IM tournament in which I got 7/11 winning 3 and drawing 8 and not losing a game. Quite pleased with the tournament gaining a few rating points.

Feb 20-23 2004 Bunratty Masters, Ireland I finished with 3.56 winning two drawing three and losing one. The time control was a bit fast for me but I’m pleased with the tournament generally as I got 1.52 against the two IMs I played.

Dec 28th 2003 Hotel Petra, Italy tournament near Rome I finished with 67 and 1st= though second on tiebreak drawing against 1st and 3rd and winning the rest.

Nov 8 – 16 Montecatini Terme, Italy – 711 I was pleased with the result as I was playing in the afternoon and going to school in the morning so no time for preparation! It was a closed tournament which I finished in 3rd=.

October-November World U16 Championships, Greece 7/11 came 13= in the world and gained a few rating points. 

Sep 7th 2003, Italy – I won my first tournament in ages, a rapidplay in Signa, Firenze. My prize was a selection of local produce – a leg of ham, some wine, cheese and olive oil. Great stuff!