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.