Horfield and Redland had nine players at the Steve Boniface Memorial. The most from any club (Downend with eight, North Bristol with seven, and Keynsham with five were also well represented).
The contest in the Open was particularly tough with eight titled players. Patryk finished on 3.5 points; the highest finishing Bristol league player. His only loss was to GM Keith Arkell and he also played undoubtedly the longest game of the weekend finally winning a rook and rook pawn versus bishop ending after five hours. Steve and Derek also competed in the Open, both competed well. Derek scored three points with his only lose being with the black pieces against Alan Merry the outright winner and Steve lost twice with black against an IM and FM but won both his games with white. The conclusion is that to beat a Horfield and Redland player at Congress you need to be titled.
In the Major Bob put in his usual strong performance finishing joint second and Mike J tested himself against stronger opposition finding the going tough but rallied to draw his last two games on the Sunday. In the Minor we had four players. Piotr won his first four matches playing excellent chess and ended joint first. I played stodgy uninspired chess but ended unbeaten with 3.5 points with two wins and two draws and a lie in on Saturday. Kana put in an improved performance from his Congress debut in February scoring two wins and Siobhan enjoyed herself despite finding the going tough in her first ever full-length matches. She stretched a few opponents and had winning chances on the Sunday morning.
So in summary we had the most representatives, the best finishing Bristol league player, won the Minor (thank you Poland for both these results!), and second in the Major. Pretty good all round.
Pete Marks
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 