Isle of Man Congress 25th to 27th September 2009

[David Sedgwick]

Open Tournament (8 players)
1: GM Piotr Bobras (Poland) 4/5
2=: GM Stewart Haslinger, Jovica Radovanovic 3.5
Grading Prizes: Brandon Clarke, Roger Williamson, Ian Heppell
Manx Prize: Keith Allen

Major Tournament (23 players)
1=: Paul Kelly, Raul Lamorena 4/5
3=: John Cooper, Isaac Craft, Henrik Fabri, Ian Kingston, Sylvester Sipos 3.5 Grading Prizes: Mike Haslinger, John Rety
Consolation Prizes: Eoin Campbell, Andrew Price, Sanjay Gumireddy

Minor Tournament (20 players)
1: Raymond Kearsley 4.5/5
2=: Kevin Burridge, Glenn Cross 4
Grading Prizes: Michael Ware, Andrew De Santos, Harry Minor, James McDonald
Senior Prize: John Sutcliffe
Manx Prize: Alan Robertson

[Matt Mackenzie]

Open Tournament (8 players)
1: GM Piotr Bobras (Poland) 4/5
2=: GM Stewart Haslinger, Jovica Radovanovic 3.5
Grading Prizes: Brandon Clarke, Roger Williamson, Ian Heppell
Manx Prize: Keith Allen

8 players?!?!?!

I see seven of the eight got prizes - who was the unlucky one who missed out??

[Alex Holowczak]

Grading Prizes: Roger Williamson

Wasn't he killed in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix?

[David Sedgwick]

Open Tournament (8 players)
1: GM Piotr Bobras (Poland) 4/5
2=: GM Stewart Haslinger, Jovica Radovanovic 3.5
Grading Prizes: Brandon Clarke, Roger Williamson, Ian Heppell
Manx Prize: Keith Allen

8 players?!?!?!

I see seven of the eight got prizes - who was the unlucky one who missed out??

The unlucky player was Alan Ormsby, a former Chairman of the Isle of Man Chess Association. He kindly agreed to step up from the Major Tournament when another Manx player withdrew at the last minute owing to illness.

As Alan was graded 30 points below the second lowest graded player, it wasn't surprising that he found the going tough, but he wasn't outclassed by any means.

He didn't go entirely without reward. The organisers decided to refund his entry fee.

[Peter Brace]

The organisers decided to refund his entry fee.

What a nice gesture.