The Hastings International Chess Congress this year welcomed Tradewise Insurance Services as a new sponsor, in conjunction with Hastings Borough Council and the English Chess Federation. Though Hastings has a proud history, the organisers now hope that this new sponsorship will turn the focus to a bright new future. Tradewise is synonymous with the Gibraltar Chess Festival and this is a hard act to live up to. However, as there is now a whole year to plan ahead we hope the next event will prove to be the start of a regenerated Hastings Congress.
Thanks also go to other stalwart supporters – The White Rock Hotel, The Lansdowne Hotel and KC Computers, whose sponsorship is vital to the event. The staff at Horntye Park Sports Complex must also be thanked for their hard work and warm welcome, which is much appreciated by players each year. Last and most importantly, thanks to the players for their endurance of the monsoon conditions and travel problems – we hope they will be back next year.
Thanks to Tradewise, the Congress was able to offer a Junior Coaching Session – the juniors who attended were delighted, and GM Chris Ward was amazed that they stayed for the whole 3 hours, concentrating intently. This is something to build on. Chris’s commentary and the live games were, as usual, excellent. We hope to improve the streaming for next year … the internet capabilities require investigation, and this will be addressed before the next event. We should also thank Chess24 and chess-results.com for their coverage, and Brendan O’Gorman and Lara Barnes for their excellent photographs.
1= GM Aleksander Mista (POL); gm Jahongir Vakhidov (UZB) 7/9 – £1600.00 each, jointly hold Golombek Trophy for 1 year
3= GM Ferenc Berkes (HUN); GM Igor Khenkin (GER); GM Sarunas Sulskis (LTU); GM Tamas Jr. Fodor (HUN); IM Justin Sarkar (USA) – £410.00 each
Tradewise Norm Prize was won by Peter Batchelor who achieved an IM Norm – £50.00
Highest placed female player – WFM Rasa Norinkeviciute (LTU) – £200.00
Best relative FIDE rating performance U2200 – Freddie Hand – £200.00
Best relative FIDE rating performance U18 – James Golding – £200.00
Best performance against rating – Freddie Hand – Alan Hustwayte Trophy
Maureen Charlesworth Trophy for best local performance – Paul Kelly
Horntye Park Best Game Prize – Dr. Marcus ter Steeg – £100 + trophy
NEW YEAR TOURNAMENT A
1st Tomas Tamosiunas (LTU) 3.5/4 – £120.00
2nd Ian Heppell (Morden) 3 – £75.00
3rd = Maurice Lawson (Reading); Helge Hjort (Hastings & St. Leonards); Julian Shepley (Guildford); David Fowler (Hamble/Gosport); Paul Kelly (Hastings & St. Leonards) 2.5 – £10.00 each
NEW YEAR TOURNAMENT B
1st = Richard Bedwell; Joe Everett 3.5 /4 – £97.50 each
3rd = Anthony Roberts – £25.00; Oliver Howell – £30.00 (GP); Jeremy Hudson – £25.00 (GP) 3
NEW YEAR TOURNAMENT C
1st = Robert Mitchell (NZL); Neil Lang (Chislehurst); Alan Fraser (Beckenham) 3 /4 – £81.67 each
Caroline Robson (Barnet) 2.5 – £30.00 Grading Prize