2020 CONGRESS – FINAL RESULTS

The Open section of the 2020 East Devon Chess Congress has been won by IM Gary Lane with 4.5/5. In the Major, Nathan Mills triumphed with a perfect 5/5, while the Minor was won by Chris Webb with 4.5/5. A full list of prizewinners is available at the following link: East Devon Chess Congress 2020 Prize List

To view the final results for all sections, please follow this link: http://results.utuswiss.co.uk 

(Photos of the final wallcharts are also available – simply scroll down and click on the image thumbnails below.)

[Update: 10 March] Scanned games from Rounds 1 to 5 are now available for the Open, Major, and Minor! (PDF format):

Open – Rd 1  |  Open – Rd 2  |  Open – Rd 3  |  Open – Rd 4  |  Open – Rd 5

Major – Rd 1  |  Major – Rd 2  |  Major – Rd 3  |  Major – Rd 4  |  Major – Rd 5

Minor – Rd 1  |  Minor – Rd 2  |  Minor – Rd 3  |  Minor – Rd 4  |  Minor – Rd 5

Progress updates that were posted during the weekend (including photos of key scoresheets) appear a little further down this page.

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UPDATE: Round 5 (Sunday pm)

Link to live results: http://results.utuswiss.co.uk

6:15pm – IM Gary Lane has won the Open outright after IM Peter Large beat Russell Granat on Board 2. (Updated 6:45pm – scoresheet below.)

5:40pm – Nathan Mills beats Franz Pittman in a K+P ending on Board 1 of the Major to claim the trophy with a magnificent 5/5. Scoresheet below:

5:35pm – IM Peter Large vs Russell Granat has reduced down to R+2B+3P for White vs 2R+4P for Black.

5:10pm – Draw agreed on Board 1 of the Open! IM Gary Lane 0.5 – 0.5 FM Will Claridge-Hansen. IM Gary Lane finishes on a superb 4.5/5, guaranteeing either joint first or outright first. Only Russell Granat (3.5/4), playing on Board 2, can potentially catch him.

5:00pm – Board 1 and 2 of the Minor have concluded! Chris Webb 0.5-0.5 Joseph Farrell and David Gilbert 1-0 John Dean. This means Chris Webb of Dorchester triumphs in the Minor with a splendid 4.5/5, with Joseph Farrell and Gilbert finishing on 4/5 – the remaining games will determine if anyone else also claims a share of second place.

4:40pm – All the top boards in all sections are still in action – it’s great to see no early draws!

4pm – Nothing to report on the main boards yet… Next update to follow at around 4:40pm (approx).

UPDATE: Round 4 (Sunday am)

Link to live results: http://results.utuswiss.co.uk/

1:55pm – Board 101 (Major board 1) has finished: Franz Pittman 1-0 Paul Doherty. The result means that Franz Pittman and Nathan Mills lead the Major on 4/4, a point clear of the field.

1:45pm – Board 201 (Minor board 1) has finished: Steven Cawser 0-1 Chris Webb. The result means that Chris Webb (Dorchester) is now the sole leader on 4/4, with two players on 3.5/4: Joseph Farrell (Metropolitan) and John Dean (Plymouth).

1:30pm – Board 1 has finished: IM Gary Lane 1-0 IM Peter Large. A fascinating game in which White’s incisive kingside assault netted the exchange, which ultimately proved decisive. A big crowd enjoyed the exciting finish – at move 25 (with 15 more to make before the time control), White had 3 minutes left and Black just 45 seconds! The game scoresheet appears below. IM Gary Lane is now sole leader on 4/4 while FM Will Claridge-Hansen and Russell Granat both have 3.5/4 after scoring superb wins – see the earlier update (below) for their games.

12:50pm – Board 102 (Major board 2) has finished: Nathan Mills 1-0 Andrew Waters. Board 202 (Minor board 2) has finished: Richard Smith 0.5-0.5 Roy Greenhalgh.

12:20pm – Board 2 in the Open has finished: Will Claridge-Hansen 1-0 Shreyas Royal. Board 3 has also finished: Russell Granat 1-0 Marcus Gosling.

The two scoresheets appear below:

Link to “live” results – available from Saturday 7 March 2020 onwards!

From late morning on Saturday 7 March 2020 onwards, you can follow the results of the 2020 East Devon Chess Congress “live” by visiting the UTU Swiss results website below, and clicking the links for the Open, Major and Minor underneath the heading “East Devon Congress (45th)”:

http://results.utuswiss.co.uk/

Please note: The process of updating these results is contingent on the internet connectivity at the venue – thank you in advance for your patience!

Entrants and interested chess fans are advised to use the link above to view the latest online information about the progress of the Congress. Additional information – including the scanned PDFs of games played and photos of the latest wallcharts – will be updated on this page after each day, and possibly more regularly if time allows. Please send any comments, questions or corrections via email to timpaulden@gmail.com.

Scanned games (rounds 1 to 3) now available for the Open, Major, and Minor! (PDF format)

Open – Round 1     Open – Round 2     Open – Round 3

Major – Round 1     Major – Round 2     Major – Round 3

Minor – Round 1     Minor – Round 2     Minor – Round 3

Overview + wallcharts (end of Round 3)

Open: IM Gary Lane (222) from Rooty Hill and IM Peter Large (est 218) from Epsom are now leading the Open with 3/3, with four players in the chasing pack on 2.5/3: FM Will Claridge-Hansen (225) from Exeter University, Russell Granat (213) from Wimbledon, CM Shreyas Royal (202) from Battersea, and Marcus Gosling (164) from Epsom – who has beaten the 11th and 12th seeds in the last two rounds.

Major: The Major is led by Frank Pittman (154) from Weymouth, Nathan Mills (146) from Brixham, and Paul Doherty (140) from Bolton, all with 3/3. Three other players are narrowly behind with 2.5/3: Andrew Waters (154) from Rainham, Percy Gill (148) from Camborne, and Robert McClatchey (147) from Salisbury.

Minor: The Minor is led by Joseph Farrell (122) from Metropolitan, Chris Webb (119) from Dorchester, and Steven Cawser (100) from Brixham, all with 3/3. Five other players are in the chasing pack on 2.5/3: Richard Smith (120) from Barnstaple, Ray Hunt (111), John Dean (110) from Plymouth, Jeff Leung (104) from Exeter University, and Roy Greenhalgh (103) from South Hams.

Click on the images below to view the wallcharts at the end of Round 3:

Quick overview (end of Round 2)

Open – After Round 2, five players lead the Open with 2/2: IM Gary Lane (222), IM Peter Large (est 218), Carsten Stanetzek (est 200), Dominic Mackle (198), and Allan Pleasants (184).

Major – Again, five players share the lead with 2/2: Sam Coutu-Oughton (154), Franz Pittman (154), Nathan Mills (146), Paul Doherty (140), and Rob Fursman (128) who claimed another 140+ scalp in Round 2.

Minor – Seven players sit on a maximum score of 2/2: Grant Daly (122), Joseph Farrell (122), David Gilbert (122), Chris Webb (119), Mike Cuggy (112), Joseph Bailey (est 110), and Steven Cawser (100).

Further information will follow after Round 3.

Summary at the end of Round 1

The first round of the 45th East Devon Chess Congress kicked off on the evening of Friday 6 March 2020 at Exeter Corn Exchange. Despite a number of late withdrawals, the final entry tally stood at a remarkable 155 players – putting the 2020 Congress in a dead heat with 2017 for the highest entry of the last 14 years.

As expected, the majority of matches in Round 1 (where the upper half of each section plays the lower half) ultimately went in favour of the higher-graded player, but there were some notable exceptions. In the Open, Marcell Czegeny (140 est) triumphed over Roger De Coverly (177), while four matches were drawn despite a sizable grading mismatch: Peter Jaszkiwskyj (170) v Russell Granat (213), Oscar Garcia (194) v Adam Woodruff (162), Giles Body (161) v FM Mike Waddington (190), and Steve Dilleigh (183) v Aditya Yanamandra (156). In the Major, there were three Round 1 upsets, with Rob Woolacott (131) beating Ishan Ramdewar (152), Lynne Fursman (130) beating Darren Freeman (149), and Rob Fursman (128) beating Jack Tye (144), whilst in the Minor there were two surprises: Steven Cawser (100) defeated sixth seed Paul Cowan (120), and Graham Jones (83) was victorious against 14th seed Ted Paul (113).

[Note: Scans of all of the games played in Round 1 are now available at the links provided further up the page.]

The wallcharts after Round 1 are shown in the six photos below (two per section):