British Chess Federation Grand Prix 2004

Rules & Prizes
Event Report
2002/3

Printer friendly Leader Boards

Last update: Friday June 3, 2005 9:44

The Rules for the 2004 British Chess Federation Grand Prix have now been finalised.
Whilst keeping to the spirit of and maintaining many of the previous rules, the 2004 version seeks to simplify the conditions of entry and eligibility. The Federation wishes all participants a successful season and reminds players that the Grand Prix will now finish with the Smith and Williamson British Championships in Scarborough.

Leonard Barden has now stepped down as Controller of the Grand Prix. All results, entry forms etc are to be sent to the BCF Office at Battle as usual. The previous sponsorship has now ended, but the BCF considers the Grand Prix to be too important an event to be allowed to cease and has therefore set aside £5,000 as a prize fund for the 2003/4 event. We are actively seeking sponsorship for this event, if you are able to help in any way please contact the BCF Office at Battle.
The President of the BCF, Gerry Walsh, and BCF Chief Executive, Roy Heppinstall, wish to express on behalf of the Federation their sincere thanks to Leonard Barden for the work he has done over many years in respect of the Grand Prix.
It is of course quite some time since Leonard found the first sponsor to fund the Grand Prix and in addition to finding replacements when needed he also managed to process the results which today are substantially more than they were at the beginning all those years ago.
Leonard will be a hard act to follow and we all wish him well for the future.

British Chess Federation Grand Prix 2004

Grandmaster Mark Hebden of Leicester won 1st prize of £2,000 in the 2004 British Chess Federation Grand Prix. This is the 5th time that Mark has won the Grand Prix- his last victory came in 2000.

He wins the £2000 first prize. Jonathan Rowson who won both the Scottish and British Championships was second and won £800 with International Master Colin Crouch in 3rd place.

Two of England's most promising juniors confirmed their positions with wins at the Smith & Williamson British Championships at Scarborough. Ankush Khandelwal (Nottingham) won the Junior Prix after he scored 7/7 in the British Under 13 Championship whilst Sheila Dines (Croydon) became the Female Prix winner after her victory in the British Under 11 Championship.

The new Graded Prix sections were shared between London and Yorkshire. Capital city players Brendan O'Gorman and Jinwoo Song won the Under 175 and Under 150 sections respectively whilst Richards Desmedt of Wombwell (Sheffield) and Steve Webster (York) were the winners of the Under 125 and Under 100 sections.

Dean Hartley of Chesterfield won the Disabled Prix for a 2nd successive year whilst Clive Pemberton of Birmingham became Senior Grand Prix Champion. All the above players won £200 each.

The Grand Prix was organised and financed by the British Chess Federation. 1075 players recorded qualifying scores. The Grand Prix is 30 years old in 2004 and is without a sponsor for the first time - any organisation interested is asked to contact the British Chess Federation on 01424 775222 or e-mail office@bcf.org.uk.

British Chess Federation Grand Prix 2004 – Final results

Neil Graham reports:

Compared with the first week's events, the second week of the Smith & Williamson British Championships made little alteration to the top of the leader boards. High scoring events including the FIDE World Major, meant that there was substantial scoring that changed positions in the lower half of the leader boards but even Jonathan Rowson's performance in the British was insufficient to dislodge long time leader Mark Hebden from the top of the Grand Prix table. In the Junior Prix Saravanan Sathyanandha and Calum Kilpatrick made determined efforts to oust Ankush Khandelwal from his first place. However the fact that neither player could match the 100% score by Ankush in Week 1 meant that their challenges fell short. The Week One performances by Clive Pemberton, Jinwoo Song and Steve Webster were enough to confirm their top places. The final tables have now been published and subject to any late adjustments or appeals will be confirmed by the end of this week.

The Smith & Williamson British Championships are the vital final events of the BCF Grand Prix. Every section is being closely fought with the leaders making their last despairing dashes for final points. Some have been successful; others less so. Richard Desmedt, Paul Smith, Brendan O’Gorman and Steve Webster have all entered first week events but failed to make additions to their scores in the Graded Prix sections. James Sherwin made up Senior Prix points at Monmouth to narrow the gap behind Clive Pemberton to just one point; however Clive responded by finished outright second in the British Under 125 Championship with 4½/5. In the Junior Prix there were plenty of outstanding performances in the Junior Championships the best being from Ankush Khandelwal who scored 7/7 to win the British Under 13 event. This moves him to clear first in this section. Meanwhile Sheila Dines was outright winner of the British Under 11 with 6/7. This score enabled Sheila to make a significant move in the Junior Prix whilst also cementing her position at the top of the Female Prix . Anjali Lakhani and Katie Hale also moved up the Female Prix table whilst the other two front-runners Thiligini Anandajeyarajah and Jessica Thilaganathan both made up ground.
The Weekender events also saw substantial changes. Jinwoo Song took over the lead in the Under 150 Graded Prix and whilst David Gilbert also made up ground in the Under 100, Steve Webster this time was able to add to his tally and now looks in a very strong position. There were other movers as well in the lower halves of the leader boards but with one week to go, it seems that six of the nine sections could well have been settled by performances in the Championships.

The result of the Scottish Championships has seen Jonathan Rowson who was outright first with 7½ /9 increase his points tally in the Grand Prix. John Shaw and Colin McNab were also heavy scorers at this event. With Rowson and Hebden going head to head in the Smith & Williamson British Championships, the Grand Prix will be decided at Scarborough over the next two weeks. The Specsavers Opticians Young Masters saw Rafe Martyn take the lead in the Junior Prix after a strong showing with only one loss in ten games and is the second player to reach a mximum in this section. Craig Hanley was the clear winner in this event and appears on the Grand Prix leader board for the first time. In the weekend event at the Specsavers, Callum Kilpatrick moved forward in the Junior Prix. The first event at the British was the traditional rapidplay; this didn't affect the leader boards at all.

The other "missing" tournament Perth and Kinross has now been found; however its results had no affect on any of the leaderboards; similarly the Greater Manchester Summer Congress didn't affect the scoreboard either. The two final events of the London Rapidplay Circuit at Golders Green and Richmond saw several of the leading competitors in the graded competitions trying to improve their positions. In the Female Prix Sheila Dines reached the maximum by winning the Golders Green Minor . In the Under 150 Prix, Jinwoo Song is now in a strong second place whilst the Under 125 Prix looks set for a three way battle with Kevin Lenaghan now within touching distance of the lead. The Smith & Williamson British Championships now assume paramount importance and commence this weekend. No one is yet secure as prizewinners and there is bound to be a surprise result somewhere that will change the leaderboards. There will be regular updates over the Championship fortnight.

There have been a couple of tournaments whose results haven't been submitted. The Federation has now managed to find the results of one of these (Dyfed) and the results have now been added. Anyone who believes that they've played in an event which should have been included but hasn't appeared should contact the BCF Office. In the Grand Prix Colin Crouch was first in both the East Anglia Congress and Central London with 4½/5 but this only garnered a few extra points and Mark Hebden is still comfortably in the lead. Robert Gwaze also reached maximum points at Central London by finished outright second with 4/5. Sheila Dines who added to her points score in both the Central London and Frodsham Rapidplays has now taken the lead in the Female Prix followed closely by Thilagini Anandajeyarajah. In the Senior Prix Clive Pemberton was able to make a slight move forward by scoring 4/5 at Yeovil whilst Michael Franklin moved closer after he added to his score at the Central London Rapidplay. In the Under 175 Prix the two top players Brendan O'Gorman and David Jameson have now reached the maximum score and are separated by just ½ point. Brendan reached his maximum with point scoring at Central London and Yeovil whilst David improved his position by finishing first in the Frodsham Major. The most significant move in the other graded section is in the Under 100 Prix where Steve Webster has overhauled long time leader Michael Carroll due to the missing Dyfed result where Steve won the Minor Section.

The Midland Open attracted several players who were intent on increasing their maximum scores. Mark Hebden won the feature event with 5/6 jointly with Russell James but even this score is insufficient to increase Mark's score. Similarly both Clive Pemberton and Dean Hartley achieved qualifying scores but neither player could advance further up their respective leader boards. Richard Desmedt was just able to improve his maximum in the Under 125 prix but this was slight compensation as one of his main rivals, James Thomson, made substantial progress up the Leader Board. Similarly Graham Ashcroft moved up the Under 150 leader board. The London Rapidplay circuit has proved a fertile scoring area although multiples are small. Both Michael Franklin (Coulsdon) and James Sherwin (Golders Green) were able to increase their tally in the Senior Prix where Sherwin has now reached the maximum score. In the Female Prix both Thiligani Anandajeyarajah and Sheila Dines advanced after point scoring at Golders Green, however the most significant move in this section was from Amy Officer who was outright first in the Minor Section of the Scottish Stewartson Bonnet Rapidplay.

A large batch of results including late submission from South Herts has meant some changes in the Leader Boards. Several players have now reached the maximum scores and must concentrate on replacing good results by even better ones. In the Grand Prix Mark Hebden (1st at Walsall) and Colin Crouch (2nd South Lakes) both scored strongly enough to increase their point scores but by a minimal amount. It needs performances of better than 80% for either to affect their scores. Similarly in the Female Prix, Jessica Thilaganathan has now reached the 100 point mark following the addition of her South Herts score. The lower threshold in this event means that she needs to score 67% or better to increase her score. Dean Hartley continues to impress and his latest success was outright first in the South Lakes Major. This has enabled him to take the lead in the Disabled Prix and to make significant progress in the Under 150 graded prix as well. Richard Desmedt won the South Lakes Minor 1 to reach maximum points in the Under 125 prix whilst in Minor 2 joint winners included Steve Webster and Peter Smith both of whom are well positioned in the Under 100 prix. Clive Pemberton improves his maximum score in the Senior Prix after Walsall with both Alan Fraser (South Herts) and George Viszokai (Leek) making significant moves up the table.

Robert Gwaze is the only player to make progress on the Grand Prix leaderboard after finishing joint first with Colin Crouch at Richmond. Colin's score did not advance his maximum at all. In the Female Prix Jovanka Houska added to her score for the first time in months at Richmond. Neverthless she has now been overtaken by Jessica Thilaganathan who scored points at Ilford. Both Sheila Dines and Meri Lyell improved their positions in the same competition. In the Graded Prix, Jinwoo Song moves into 2nd place in the Under 150 section after featuring in a six-player tie for second place at Ilford whilst Yehuda Baruch is a new name on the Under 100 score board thanks to his 2nd= place in the Richmond Minor.

Joint winners of the quaruple point Hartlepool Major were Ankush Khanderwhal, Robert Jennings and Robert Clegg. Ankush is now a strong second in the Junior Prix whilst Robert Jennings is a convincing leader of the Under 150 prix. David Scorer was 3rd= in the Minor section and this result enables him to feature on the Under 100 table in third place. Players who improved their positions after the Central London Rapidplay were Jame McDonnell in the Under 175 prix and Kevin Lenaghan in the Under 125 prix.

Few significant movers in the latest batch of events with the exception of the Disabled Prix, where Dean Hartley’s rich vein of form continues with an outright win in the Rhyl Major, a result that also sees him make substantial progress in the Under 150 prix. Jinwoo Song and Peter Ackley were the significant point scorers at Golders Green whilst the Braille Chess Association Minor affected the lower positions in the Disabled Prix.

Peter Wells (winner at Huddersfield) and James Sherwin (outright second at Frome) make the most significant moves on the Grand Prix Leader Board with Sherwin’s score now putting him a close second to Clive Pemberton in the Senior Prix. Brothers Daniel and Joshua Hall were high scorers at Frome which moves them into contention in the Junior Prix whilst Dean Hartley’s equal first place in the Huddersfield Intermediate Section means he has now joined Graham Lilley and Jack Rudd at the top of the Disabled Prix. Adeoye Dasaolu’s stop at the head of the Graded Prix Under 175 section was short-lived; he has been been overhauled by both David Jameson (1st= Huddersfield Major) and Brendan O’Gorman (2nd= Frome Major).

Jonathan Rowson became the third player to reach maximum Grand Prix points after finishing outright first with 4½/5 at Oxford. In a vital game he defeated Colin Crouch thus preventing the Harrow International Master from improving his position. Peter Wells with 4/5 was the other player to make a significant move up the table. Jovanka Houska has headed the Ladies Prix from Day 1 based solely on her result in the Hastings Challengers. However the challenging pack has moved ever closer and now Jessica Thilaganathan, Christine Constable and Sheila Dines have all added to their scores to narrow the gap. Similarly the Junior Squad Championship has meant some movements in the Junior Prix although the top positions remain unchanged. Big move of the week comes in the Under 175 Graded Prix where Adeoye Dasaolu takes over the lead following his outright first place with 4½/5 in the Oxford Major.

Mark Hebden reached maximum Grand Prix by trouncing a weaker field at Nottingham to score 6/6. He has now started discarding his weaker events. Robert Gwaze took up the challenge with point scoring finishes at both Letchworth and Central London. Another player who has reached the maximum is Clive Pemberton in the Senior Prix and he improved his position slightly by scoring 4½/6 at Nottingham. However by finishing equal first in the Nottingham Major, Alan Rogerson makes a dramatic move up the leader board whilst local player Ray Sayer also scored Senior Prix points. Both Ankush Khanderwhal (1st= Nottingham Major) and James Thomson (2nd=Nottingham Minor) also made progress in the Junior Prix and Under 125 Graded Prix respectively

Colin Crouch who finished 1st= at the Coventry International and 3rd= at Southend has now reached 200 Grand Prix points and has started discarding his poorer scores. Colin is still 12½ points adrift of Mark Hebden who has 178 out of a possible 197 so can increase his points tally with a further scoring event. Mark was equal first with Colin at Coventry and so maintained his lead.
Jonathan Rowson, third equal at Coventry moves into third place. James Sherwin who led at Coventry with 4/4 but lost his last game might have expected to move into the lead in the Senior Prix but long time leader Clive Pemberton of Birmingham with a published BCF grade of 115 scored 3/5 including a wins over two FIDE rated players and he has now reached a potential maximum of 100 points. The seven multiple Southend Tournament has enabled several strong juniors to join the Junior Prix table with Rafe Martin, Li Wu and Josiah Lutton all scoring strongly. No significant movements in the Graded Prix whilst in the Female Prix Jessie Gilbert improves her position as does Caroline Robson.

Three of the big Easter events are in and as suggested earlier this week this has ensured several changes in the leader boards.

Three players have now reached and exceeded the potential maximum score in their sections and they are highlighted to indicate that the 50 or 100 point threshold has been reached. The only way these players can now increase their score is to replace a lower scoring event with a better score which can include one part score to reach the maximum.

There are no significant changes in either the Grand Prix or Ladies Prix. In the Senior Prix, International Master James Sherwin moves onto the Leader Board following his result at Exmouth whilst in the Junior Prix, Thomas Rendle scores enough points at Coulsdon to reach the 100 mark. In the same section both Liam Rabbitte and Stephen Gordon pick up points at Bolton. Similarly in the Disabled Prix, where Lewis Martin has been added, both Jack Rudd and Graham Lilley have reached the a potential 50 points. Dean Hartley looks set to join the leaders after a strong showing at Bolton. In the Graded Prix, Brendan O’Gorman moves to 4th place in the Under 175 section, Richard Desmedt intensifies his challenge in the Under 125 section after his sixth scoring event whilst Michael Carroll extends his lead in the Under 100 section.

A couple of older congresses plus two big recent events have been added. In the Grand Prix Jonathan Rowson’s outright win with 4½/5 at Edinburgh moves him into fifth place whilst Robert Gwaze’s 2nd place in the British Blitz keeps him in touch with the two leaders. Thomas Rendle increases his lead in the Junior Prix after his third finish in the Blitz event whilst Elaine Rutherford’s 2nd= equal position in Edinburgh has moved her straight onto the Female Prix leader board in 6th place. Graham Lilley is now top of the Disabled Prix with the addition of his Heywood score.

In the other events there have been no significant movements although some adjustments have been made. In one an organiser submitted tables for the correct congress but the wrong year, in the other in a fit of generosity I gave a low ranking event quintuple rather than double points. With a substantial number of Easter events due to arrive this week I anticipate some considerable changes in the Leader Boards.

Can all organisers please remember to identify senior, ladies and disabled qualifying scores. Omissions mean that players are writing to the BCF Office to query results. A number of corrections have been made which changes the standings in events notably in the Graded Prix Under 175 section where David Jameson is now the clear leader and in the Ladies Prix where Thilagini Anandajeyarajah and Christine Constable have made progress. Raymond Kearsley and Colin Cartlidge have now been identified as eligible for the Senior Prix and their transferred scores have moved them into second and third spot respectively. There are still a few queries outstanding which could affect some scores in these sections.

The two new events recorded since last time, the Braille C.A Congress and Spectrum Dudley, have had most effect in the Disabled Prix section where Graham Lilley and Dean Hartley have both moved forward to challenge the leader Jack Rudd.

Blackpool is Britain's highest scoring weekend congress and results now added have led to Mark Hebden regaining his Grand Prix Lead. Mark finished joint first with 4½/5 with Danny Gormally and Jonathan Rowson. Both these players move up together with Robert Gwaze who finished on 4/5.

The other added tournament is Cleveland and although the results don't affect the Grand Prix there are significant moves in the other sections. Ray Sayer took the lead in the Senior Prix following his first equal in the Minor Section at Cleveland with 4/5. Conrad Jowett was one of the other joint winners in this section and he appears on the leader board for the first time. However Clive Pemberton, the early leader in the Seniors regained poll position with a 4/5 in the six-fold Blackpool Intermediate.

In the Disabled Prix Graham Lilley appears for the first time following his result at Blackpool whilst in the Minor Section of the same tournament the most significant move in the Ladies Prix is from Jessica Thilaganathan, Four new names on the Junior Prix leader board are Liam Rabbitte, Stephen Gordon, Robert Glover and Ankush Khandelwhal.

In the Graded Prix Sections, Adeoye Dasaolu overtakes Martin Cutmore to lead the Under 175 section, Roger Jennings with a first places at Cleveland and an outright second at Blackpool moves from 10= to first place in the Under 150 section, Richard Desmedt is the main mover in the Under 125 whilst several new players appear on the Under 100 leader board for the first time although the top two players remain unchanged.

Colin Crouch takes the lead in the Grand Prix after finishing 1st= with Andrew and David Ledger at the Doncaster Congress whilst Simon Williams makes up ground with a joint first at Richmond shared with Graeme Buckley. In the Female Prix Naomi Miller moves up to fourth following finishing 1st= in the Richmond Major section. Sharing first place with her was Ben Purton and this result moves him to 5th place in the Junior Prix.

George Viszokai has overtaken Clive Pemberton to lead the Senior Prix following his 4½/6 in the Nottingham Rapidplay and Michael Franklin also makes up ground picking up points at Coulsdon. In the Disabled Prix Jack Rudd has been added and his results already set a target to aim at with Dean Hartley picking up useful points at Doncaster his main rival so far.

In the Graded Prix sections David Jameson has moved into 3rd place in the Under 175 section following finishing equal first in the Doncaster Major with Richard Desmedt making similar progress in the Under 125 section. Michael Carroll with 4½/5 in the Doncaster Minor sweeps into the lead in the Under 100 section followed by Steve Webster who also scored well at the same event. There are no changes in the Under 125 section other than Alan Ruffle appearing on the leader board for the first time after his score of 5/6 in the Nottingham Rapidplay.

Finally the British Chess Federation League tables are up and running following the publication on-line of the new Rules. I’ve been inundated with requests, queries and comments and at the moment I’m working my way through these; so if you haven’t had a reply please be patient. As we progress I’ll endeavour to try and give some background to how the event is being organised this year – the first difference you may notice is that all scores will be like chess results in whole or half points.
Grand Prix Grandmaster Mark Hebden is the early leader with a strong showing at Portsmouth where his score of 5½/6 (sevenfold points) was 1½ points in front of the joint second placed scorers. This followed Mark’s win at the Welsh International tournament in January. Mark’s closest rival is Colin Crouch who has opened with substantial scores in the Hastings Challengers and Kidlington.
Female Prix Leader Jovanka Houska’s score is due solely to her result at the Hastings Challengers. Juniors Katie Hale, Sheila Dines and Jessica Thilaganathan all had qualifying scores at the London Junior in December and the W.E.C.U. tournament in Wiltshire in February.
Senior Prix Clive Pemberton (Birmingham) is the early leader with qualifying scores at both Hastings and Kidlington
Martin Patterson (Newport) is an early scorer in the Disabled Prix whilst Thomas Rendle and David Howell are Junior Prix frontrunners again after excellent showings in the Hastings Challengers.
In the new Graded Prix sections there are already some high scores posted. Strong showings at Richmond, Kidlington and Portsmouth has enabled Martin Cutmore (Wood Green) to establish a strong first place in the Under 175 section whilst Russell Goodfellow (Tunbridge Wells) is already over the 50 point mark in the Under 150 section with four scoring results already posted. In the Under 100 section Michael Beech (Hastings) is the early pacesetter but there are 14 other players within 4 points whilst Paul Smith (Brighton) followed good results at Hastings and Portsmouth followed up with a 6/7 (sixfold points) score in the Jersey International to cement his position at the top of the Under 125 section.

British Chess Federation Grand Prix
Leader Boards - Final Results

Players' names in blue have already reached the maximum possible score and to increase their score must replace a lower scoring event with a higher scoring event.

Bonus Points 2003	20/20
Nottingham Congress	24/24
Coventry International	27/30
Walsall Kipping Rapidplay	16½/18
Portsmouth Congress	38½/42
Blackpool	31½/35
Welsh International (part-score)	25½/31

Grand Prix
1st	Mark Hebden	(Leicester)	£2,000
2nd	Jonathan Rowson	(Troon)	£800
3rd	Colin Crouch	(Harrow)	£400
Qualifiers to 2005 Smith & Williamson British Championship:-
Russell James, James Sherwin and Jovica Radovanovic

Graded Prix
150 –174	Brendan O’Gorman	(London)	£200
125—149	Jinwoo Song	(London)	£200
100-124	Richard Desmedt	(Wombwell)	£200
Under 100	Steve Webster	(York)	£200