English Chess Forum

Posted: **Mon Feb 02, 2026 12:39 pm**

Has anyone seen any reports of the results from this congress.

They seem to have been obliterated from existence.

Posted: **Mon Feb 02, 2026 1:36 pm**

Paul Dupré wrote: ↑
Mon Feb 02, 2026 12:39 pm
Has anyone seen any reports of the results from this congress.

They seem to have been obliterated from existence.

Do you have a date for that event Paul?

Posted: **Mon Feb 02, 2026 3:10 pm**

Paul Dupré wrote: ↑
Mon Feb 02, 2026 12:39 pm
Has anyone seen any reports of the results from this congress.

Try the archived SCCU site as previously run by Richard Hadrell,

https://www.sccu-chess.com/archive/9900/cong.htm

Frank Winter Memorial Open (60 pl) 1 Andrew Webster (South Norwood) 6/7 �400; 2-4 John Benjamin (Richmond); Graeme Buckley (Bushbury), Peter Kemp (Streatham) 5

Posted: **Mon Feb 02, 2026 6:41 pm**

SURREY EASTER CONGRESS at Carshalton, 21-24 April 2000
4.5.00, updated 6.5.00
Scott Freeman writes:
After 25 years of running the event, Bill Waterton, Martin Cath and Fred Manning decided to sit back and take a well-earned rest. All 3 visited the congress in different ways, although only Fred chose to sit and do battle over the board, registering 2� points.
The Surrey County Chess Association had decided to "contract out" the event and the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship took on the task of running the whole event. Many players asked why we left Sutton library. There were two main reasons. Firstly, the cost of Sutton Library last year was about �1,000 more than this year's venue and in addition, they have now turned the area where we had the Minor and Novice into office space.
We held most of the entry fees at last year's prices to try and encourage more players to play. Probably the most disappointing thing was the lack of entries for the Novice tournaments.
Another area of concern was the number of withdrawals mid-event. The feeling of those left, and the arbiters, was that we were there to play chess and it should not have been just about winning prizes. Conversations took place about measures taken in the West Country to prevent withdrawals1, although it was recognised that the inability to provide a substantial extra prize fund due to the lower entries may have contributed to the unusually high numbers pulling out early.
Frank Winter Memorial Open (60 pl) 1 Andrew Webster (South Norwood) 6/7 �400; 2-4 John Benjamin (Richmond); Graeme Buckley (Bushbury), Peter Kemp (Streatham) 5� �117...British Championship qualifiers not yet known. We await details from the BCF Congress Director of players already qualified. [rjh: The list on his website doesn't seem to have been updated since August.]
Premier U170 (41 pl) 1 Andrew Horton-Kitchlew (ISH) 6/7 �240; 2 Craig Young (St Albans) 5� �120; 3-6 Dominic Gibbs (Flying teapots), Martin Page (Insurance), Ido Porat (Israel) 5 �30...
Major U145 (50 pl) 1-2 George Coomber (Coulsdon & Purley), Russell Goodfellow (Tunbridge Wells) 6/7 �180; 3 Stuart Hamilton (Coulsdon & Purley) 5� �80; 4-7 Lucy Broomfield (South Norwood), CJ De Mooi (Brighton), Norman Harris (Charlton), Adrian Waldock (Guildford/Richmond) 5 �10...
Minor A U120 (45 pl) 1-2 Sarah Hegarty (Woking), Edward Leung (Richmond Juniors) 4�/5 �90; 3-4 Keith Findley (South Norwood), Tristan Clayton 4 �30...
Minor B U120 (42 pl) 1 Paul Seet 5/5 �120; 2 Edward Leung (Richmond Juniors) 4�/5 �60; 3 Joseph Farrell (Metropolitan) 4 �40; 4-10 Victor Bluett (Wallington), James Chapman (Danson), Robert Davidson (Brighton), Anthony Duncan (Islington), David Howes (Coulsdon & Purley), Daniel Lappage (Magdalen College School), David Wheatley 3� �3...
Novice A U90 (24 pl) 1 Ashley Hegarty (Woking) 5/5 �100; 2-3 Fergus Brown (Surbiton), Fergus Brown (Surbiton) 4 �36...
Novice B U90 (17 pl) 1 Brian Williamson (Coulsdon & Purley) 4�/5 �100; 2-4 Yasmin Ball (Maidenhead), Fred Coombes (Metropolitan), Alan Fraser (Beckenham & Bromley) 3� �25...
Open Blitz (52 pl) 1 Danny Gormally (Coulsdon & Purley) 6�/7 �50... Grading U200 Shi Porat (Israel) 5� �25; U170 Ido Porat (Israel), Ross Rattray (Richmond Juniors), Thomas Rendle (Hastings) 5 �9; U140 Jonathan Somekh (Richmond Juniors) 4� �25; U110 Nicholas Lai Baranga (Barnet Knights) 4 �25; U80 Daniel Gliddon (Coulsdon & Purley) 3 �25
Ladies Prize Sarah Hegarty (Minor A) �25
Family Prize the Hegartys (Ashley, Daniel, Sarah) �25
Hawson Trophy Fred Coombes (Novice B). This splendid trophy, for the best score by a Surrey veteran (over 60), was given to the Surrey County Chess Association by the family of John Hawson, a stalwart both of the Congress and of the County, who died just two days before last year's event (which he was to have played in).
Full tournament charts will shortly be available on the CCF website.
1 What measures?, we asked, and Scott's told us. "I understand that they named, shamed and requested deposits for withdrawals which have almost been eliminated down that way according to Steve Boniface." Naming and shaming we'd happily go along with, on this site. Isn't it rather a bind refunding all the deposits to people who don't withdraw? Maybe not.

Posted: **Mon Feb 02, 2026 11:11 pm**

"Many players asked why we left Sutton library. There were two main reasons. Firstly, the cost of Sutton Library last year was about �1,000 more than this year's venue and in addition, they have now turned the area where we had the Minor and Novice into office space."

I heard a third reason - the Library wanted to get rid of the chess players as they claimed that someone had defaecated on the Mayor's table. For some reason, they claimed that a chess player would explore hidden recesses of the library to such an extent that they would find the office (which should have been locked, surely), whereas I would think it more likely that a disaffected member of staff had shown their disapproval of the boss in a somewhat extreme way.

On the plus side, seeing a mention of Fred Coombes was a delight. He seemed to be about 90 years old and took great pleasure in playing every tournament he could find, with obvious enjoyment whatever the results. Chess needs more people like him.

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 1:58 am**

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑
Mon Feb 02, 2026 11:11 pm
On the plus side, seeing a mention of Fred Coombes was a delight. He seemed to be about 90 years old and took great pleasure in playing every tournament he could find, with obvious enjoyment whatever the results. Chess needs more people like him.

I think Fred Coombes died on the 10th November, 2018, at the age of 89.

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 10:11 am**

My caption at the time was

"Age is no barrier for chess! Fred Coombes (Coulsdon CF) and Haolin Zhao enjoy themselves during the rapidplay event"

From the Surrey Chess Congress which took place over 6-9 April 2012 at Nonsuch High School - Sports Hall, Ewell Road, Sutton, SM3 8AB.

: "Age is no barrier for chess! Fred Coombes (Coulsdon CF) and Haolin Zhao enjoy themselves during the rapidplay event"

From the Surrey Chess Congress which took place over 6-9 April 2012 at Nonsuch High School - Sports Hall, Ewell Road, Sutton, SM3 8AB.; _ane9108_crop-X3.jpg (563.09 KiB) Viewed 4034 times

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 1:31 pm**

"I think Fred Coombes died on the 10th November, 2018, at the age of 89."

I wasn't suggesting he looked 90 in 2000... I did see him much later!

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 1:53 pm**

From the same event as upstream.

My caption was

"Fred Coombes prepares himself"

: "Fred Coombes prepares himself"; _ane9116_crop-X2.jpg (210.3 KiB) Viewed 3992 times

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 4:11 pm**

A correction about Fred Coombes: he played most of his chess in the Surrey League for Wimbledon Chess Club (and this is reflected in his entry in the grading lists around 2000). Hence the description of him as "Metropolitan" in the report is probably an error as there is no mention of an association with the Metropolitan club in the grading list. If you look him up on the ECF database he is currently listed as "Coulsdon" and I expect that is because he ended his chess career playing in Coulsdon internal events. I played Fred several times in matches and tournaments and (like many other Surrey players) remember him with affection.

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 8:20 pm**

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 8:40 pm**

Sorry, forgot to mention these 2 from the 1970's
1975 - https://www.surreyrapidchess.org.uk/eve ... ble01.html
1976 - https://www.surreyrapidchess.org.uk/eve ... ble01.html

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 9:08 pm**

Paul Dupré wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 03, 2026 8:40 pm
Sorry, forgot to mention these 2 from the 1970's

Monster tournaments that were typical of the era.

1975 128 players, five equal first on 4.5
1976 138 players, two equal first with 5/5. three equal third on 4.5/5

I cannot recall the exact pairing scheme, but I don't think there was acceleration.

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 9:30 pm**

Paul Dupré wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 03, 2026 8:20 pm
Thanks for all your replies, but I'm actually after this :- "Full tournament charts will shortly be available on the CCF website." No longer available, unfortunately. Gone forever, maybe.

Unfortunately archive.org doesn't seem to have archived the page in question, which I think was:
http://www.ccfs.freeserve.co.uk:80/Even ... ngress.htm
(the "%20" means a space)

Here is a list of what archive.org has archived for the old CCF site:
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://ww ... uk/Events/*

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2026 9:52 pm**

The 1995 table brings back the happy memory of the only time I qualified for the British!

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