35th EDCA Congress & National Championship, 27-28 October 2007

Venue: Luton

Chris Kreuzer made it a hat-trick of EDCA National Championships with a score of 4/5 so retaining the Cedric White trophy.

Unlike his previous 2 titles, this time he went about winning it in a new way. He lost in the first round against Peter Sharpe but thanks to this 'Kreuzer Gambit' he somehow won his next 3 games so he faced the leader, Lewis Martin, in the final round. Lewis only needed a draw to become EDCA Champion for the first time while Chris had to go out all guns blazing with the black pieces to win. In the end the more experienced player won by patiently converting his one pawn advantage into an knight and pawn endgame win.

Peter Sharpe recovered from losing to Lewis Martin in the second round to take overall 2nd place with 3½/5. Peter upset the form book and made a mockery of his grade by stopping the top 4 graded players taking the top 4 places. With 3/5, Lewis came 3rd on tie-break ahead of Phillip Gardner, 4th and Alasdair MacLeod 5th.

In the Major, in a 5 round all-play-all tournament, debutant Neil Dunlop showed that he hadn't lost his chess experience after a long time away from serious competitve chess. He stormed through the field to win with a perfect score of 5/5, winning the John Brown trophy. He will be able to challenge the best players in Premier next year. There was a three-way tie for 2nd place amongst the veterans of the tournament - John Brown, Mick Simmons and Frank Wood. Believe it or not, Mick is the youngest of the 3 at a sprightly 70!

The EDCA would like to thank the Alban Neve Deaf Association and Luton Deaf Club for letting us host our event in their premises for the whole weekend. A special thanks also to Harry Martin for helping with the catering.