The Open
by John Richards
Round 1
The usual first round Swiss pairings of the top half versus the bottom half led to
a massacre of the top players. David Buckley beat Chris Beaumont when he left a piece
hanging, while sister Melanie made it look easy against Charles Cobb. Roy Phillips got
into his usual time trouble against me
and I found a forced mate in four. Paul Helbig, just
returned from Australia, played like he was still jet lagged and lost to
Duncan Grossett. Rawlinson beat Z Chris (who claimed a grade of 185, but never played like
it). It was left to Simon Buckley to be the only top half player to score the
full point when he beat Mike White. Steve Dilleigh got a one point bye to join the
early leaders.
Round 2
Chris Baker had sat out the first evening with a half point bye. He must have come in
on Saturday expecting to be half a point behind Beaumont, Cobb and Phillips, and
been delighted to find he was actually half a point in front.
Simon Buckley and Steve Dilleigh both won to become the joint leaders on 100%. The
other two Buckleys, Melanie and David, were paired together, so no one was surprised when
they drew. With all three amongst the leaders,
perhaps it was to be the year when a Buckley became Bristol Champion?
The silliest game of the round, and of the whole tournament, was when I placed
my queen en prise on move 13; David Collier must have thought Christmas had come early.
Leaders: Simon Buckley, Steve Dilleigh 2; Melanie Buckley, David Buckley, David Collier,
Chris Baker 1.5.
Round 3
Paul Helbig's poor form continued. A loss to me was enough to convince him
to withdraw from the tournament. Simon Buckley drew with Dilleigh, allowing Melanie
Buckley and Chris Baker to catch up.
Leaders: Simon Buckley, Steve Dilleigh, Melanie Buckley,
Chris Baker 2.5. Charles Cobb, Roy Phillips, John Richards 2.
Round 4
The Buckleys' chances evaporated this round. Simon lost to Baker and Melanie to
Dilleigh. Chris Beaumont overslept and made it to the board with about 3 minutes to spare.
He would have been better off staying in bed, as he became my second 200+ scalp
of the tournament.
Leaders: Chris Baker, Steve Dilleigh 3.5;
Charles Cobb, John Richards 3.
Round 5
Chris Baker made it all look easy against Dilleigh
as he notched up his fourth straight win to become Bristol
Champion for the first time. He was relieved he didn't need a tie break
as the Controller, Steve Boniface, had decided to use the
unusual "average of opponents' grades"
as the first tie break method, which would have almost certainly meant that
Baker would have lost.
Cobb beat me after a very long struggle (the last game
to finish) where he missed a couple of wins along the way and almost let me back into
it. It was only sufficient for second. My excellent tournament (wins against Phillips,
Helbig and Beaumont for a grading performance of 208) ended up with me completely
out of the prize money, as Melanie glided past to snatch the grading prize.
Bristol League Congress Open 1998
1 2 3 4 5
1 Baker,CW +½ +1 -1 +1 -1 4.5/5
bye 14 8 5 4
2 Cobb,C +0 -1 +1 -1 +1 4.0/5
3 16 10 9 7
3 Buckley,M -1 +½ +1 -0 +1 3.5/5
2 8 6 4 12
4 Dilleigh,S +1 +1 -½ +1 +0 3.5/5
bye 13 5 3 1
5 Buckley,S +1 -1 +½ -0 +½ 3.0/5
12 10 4 1 6
6 Collier,D -½ +1 -0 +1 -½ 3.0/5
14 7 3 8 5
7 Richards,J +1 -0 +1 -1 -0 3.0/5
9 6 15 11 2
8 Buckley,D +1 -½ +0 -0 +1 2.5/5
11 3 1 6 13
9 Phillips,R -0 +1 -1 +0 -½ 2.5/5
7 12 13 2 10
10 Grossett,D -1 +0 -0 +1 +½ 2.5/5
15 5 2 13 9
11 Beaumont,C -0 +½ -1 +0 -1 2.5/5
8 15 14 7 def
12 White,EM -0 -0 +1 +1 -0 2.0/5
5 9 16 14 3
13 Rawlinson,A +1 -0 +0 -0 -0 1.0/5
16 4 9 10 8
14 Cheung,L +½ -0 +0 -0 0.5/4
6 1 11 12
15 Helbig,P +0 -½ -0 0.5/3
10 11 7
16 Chris,Z -0 +0 -0 0.0/3
13 2 12
Chris Baker breezed to victory in the League Congress last weekend when he managed to
avoid all the top rated players. This was not Chris's fault; it happened because
the other top players all lost in a sensational first round while Chris was taking a half
point bye: Beaumont lost to David Buckley, Charles Cobb lost to Melanie Buckley, Roy
Phillips lost to John Richards, and Paul Helbig was beaten by Duncan Grossett. When
Baker arrived for the second round, it was to find himself half a point ahead of his
main competitors, instead of half a point behind them. Four straight wins ensured they
never caught up with him.