Checkmate Covid-19 – The Rematch results!

The Checkmate Covid-19 – The Rematch chess marathon took place between 5.00pm on Saturday June 5th to 5.00pm on Sunday June 6th (BST) on Chess.com, and was open to all members of the English Chess Federation Open Club. More details at the link here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/checkmate-covid-the-rematch/ 

Keith Arkell came first by some margin followed by Shreyas Royal and Nathanael Paul. Keith’s playing style is well suited to these sorts of events – he played for most of the 24 hours and at one point won over 40 games in a row. The top 10 finishers were –
GM Keith Arkell (655), Shreyas Royal  (522), Nathanael Paul (416), Isolaniathome (371), Konimonster (363), IM Thomas Rendle (286), Jude Shearsby (279), Robert Starley (279), Michael Bramson (266) and  Julien Shepley (254). The players were mostly from Britain (over 200 British players) but also around 30 other Federations from all over the world making up the field of 292.

We had a fantastic turnout from titled players supporting the event including –
9 GMs – Keith Arkell, Michael Adams, Luke McShane, Gawain Jones, David Howell, Matthew Turner, Danny Gormally, Simon Williams and Peter Svidler
7 IMs including Thomas Rendle, Ameet Ghasi, BritishIsles, Ali Mortazavi, Richard Palliser, Malcolm Pein
3 WFMs – Louise Head, Shohreh Bayat and Maria Emelianova
and 1 WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni
– as well a number of FMs and a US NM

You can see the full results and final standings here – https://www.chess.com/tournament/live/arena/checkmate-covid—the-rematch-1187013

There was a total of 6,074 games played over the 24 hours (2,611 on the 5th and 3,463 on the 6th) and we will be publishing selected games with commentary over the next few weeks. The event was also supported by a 24-hour stream on the ECF’s commentary channel organised by WIM Natasha Regan. This included a top level line-up of commentators and guests, from the opening session at 5.00 on Saturday with GM Michael Adams and WFM Shohreh Bayat through to the closing session from 4.00 to 5.00 pm on Sunday, with GM David Norwood and IM Richard Farleigh.

Date Time    
Saturday 5th June 5pm – 6pm GM Mickey Adams WFM Shohreh Bayat
Saturday 5th June 6pm – 7pm FM Akshaya Kalaiyalahan WFM Louise Head
Saturday 5th June 7pm – 8pm GM John Emms GM Chris Ward
Saturday 5th June 8pm – 9pm WFM Sarah Longson FM Alex Longson
Saturday 5th June 9pm – 10pm GM Gawain Jones WIM Sue Maroroa (tbc)
Saturday 5th June 10pm – 11pm GM Luke McShane  
Saturday 5th June 11pm – 12pm WCM Zoe Varney GM Danny Gormally
Saturday 5th June Midnight GM Matthew Sadler WIM Natasha Regan
  1am STREAMERS Colm Buckley + Phil Crocker
  2am STREAMERS Julio Calcina
  3am STREAMERS Julio Calcina
  4am STREAMERS Julio Calcina
  5am STREAMERS Julio Calcina
  6am STREAMERS Julio Calcina
  7am STREAMERS Julio Calcina
Sunday 6th June 8am – 9am Sean Marsh Natasha + Matthew
Sunday 6th June 9am – 10am FM Peter Sowray FM Terry Chapman
Sunday 6th June 10am – 11am WFM Kanwal Bhatia GM Nigel Short (tbc)
Sunday 6th June 11am – midday IM Ameet Ghasi Tristan Cox 
Sunday 6th June 12pm – 1pm IM Malcolm Pein Jonny Pein (tbc)
Sunday 6th June 1pm – 2pm STREAMERS GM Simon Williams
Sunday 6th June 2pm – 3pm GM Daniel King GM Julian Hodgson
Sunday 6th June 3pm – 4pm Nina Pert IM Richard Pert
Sunday 6th June 4pm – 5pm GM Dave Norwood Richard Farleigh

We raised over £5000.00 for the Red Cross’s COVID relief fund in total. The commentary schedule was as above, and you can see the recorded set of streams on the ECF’s broadcast channel here – https://www.twitch.tv/ecf_commentary

We are currently looking through the final standings and will be in contact shortly with prize winners for the various sections.

A big thank you from the ECF to everyone who took part or commentated and for all the generous donations to the Red Cross. Thanks also to chief organiser Danny Rosenbaum, to WIM Natasha Regan for her fantastic and tireless work in organising the commentary, and to GM David Norwood for his generous matching of the last hour’s Red Cross donations, and his support for the women’s prize fund.