West of England Congress

[Ronnie Burton]

Bristol & District Chess League
founded in 1907
Congress
Fri 26
th to Sun 28th April 2024
www.bristolcongress.co.uk
The Great Hall, Bristol Grammar School (BGS)
University Road, Bristol BS8 1SR

Bristol Open Centenary
Congress
& WECU Championship
Fri 26th to Sun 28th April 2024
www.bristolcongress.co.uk
The Great Hall, Bristol Grammar School (BGS)
University Road, Bristol BS8 1SR
Entry fees
Open FIDE £38
Boniface U1900 £32
Foundation U1600 £26
Contact: Igor Doklestic
[email protected];
07817 604014

[Ian Thompson]

Bristol Open Centenary Congress & WECU Championship
Fri 26th to Sun 28th April 2024

It's disappointing to read that the WECU Championship is now just a 5 rounds weekend swiss incorporated in a larger event. When I first played in it, it was 7 rounds over 5 days, restricted to players eligible to win the championship.

[Ronnie Burton]

Hi Ian

Not sure you are correct with your comments. I've played many times over the last 30 years and from memory it was two games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and one game on the Monday. 4 days tournament not five

[Ian Thompson]

Not sure you are correct with your comments. I've played many times over the last 30 years and from memory it was two games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and one game on the Monday. 4 days tournament not five

I'm going back 40 years. In 1981 it was 5 days from Thursday to Monday, with 2 games on Thursday and Saturday. My records show it was played over 5 days on all 4 occasions I played in the 1980s. By 1995 it had changed to 4 days from Friday to Monday. Maybe the change of schedule coincided with it changing from a closed event, for WECU players only, to an open event, which happened sometime in the 1990s and by 1995 at the latest.

I've a vague recollection that that schedule may only have applied to the Championship section and the other sections were played over 4 days, starting on the Friday.

[Ronnie Burton]

I'm glad its back on again. For many years the venue was in Exmouth thanks to Bob Jones.

[GrahamStuart]

Not sure you are correct with your comments. I've played many times over the last 30 years and from memory it was two games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and one game on the Monday. 4 days tournament not five

I'm going back 40 years. In 1981 it was 5 days from Thursday to Monday, with 2 games on Thursday and Saturday. My records show it was played over 5 days on all 4 occasions I played in the 1980s. By 1995 it had changed to 4 days from Friday to Monday. Maybe the change of schedule coincided with it changing from a closed event, for WECU players only, to an open event, which happened sometime in the 1990s and by 1995 at the latest.

I've a vague recollection that that schedule may only have applied to the Championship section and the other sections were played over 4 days, starting on the Friday.

In 1981 the tournament was held in Winchester (one of the few times hosted by Hampshire). I wrote an article on this from the crosstables in the Hampshire Chess Archives, and it looks as if you both played (Ian in the Championship and Ronnie in the Challenges, which you won).

https://hampshirechesshistory.co.uk/wec ... ship-1981/

If you have anything you wish to add to the article including games please do let me know.

For that tournament the Championship was over 7 rounds and the Challengers 6, and some of the all-play all tournaments were 5 so I can understand the different recollections.

The Cornwall Chess Website has information on the winners with tables and games from some years, including the two years which Ian won.

https://www.cornwallchess.org.uk/wecu/c ... ions.shtml

[IM Jack Rudd]

Some good stuff on that Cornwall site. Quite pleased with the game that won me my first WECU title:

[Event "WECU Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2000.??.??"] [Round "7"] [White "Rudd J."] [Black "Shire D. J."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C05"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2000.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 cxd4 8. cxd4 f5 9. a3 a5 10. Bd3 Be7 11. Ne2 a4 12. Bd2 Nb6 13. Nc3 Bd7 14. O-O Na5 15. g4 O-O 16. gxf5 exf5 17. Qe2 Be6 18. Rad1 Nac4 19. Be1 Qd7 20. Na2 Rac8 21. Bb4 Rc7 22. Kh1 Nc8 23. Rg1 Kh8 24. Rg3 Bxb4 25. Nxb4 Qe8 26. Rh3 g6 27. Qf2 b5 28. Na6 Rg7 29. Nc5 Na7 30. Rg1 Nc6 31. Rh6 Nd8 32. Qg2 Ne3 33. Qd2 Nc4 34. Bxc4 bxc4 35. Qb4 Nf7 36. Nxe6 Nxh6 1-0

[Jon Underwood]

Unfortunately we can't find anyone who wants to organise a 7 game congress - at the moment.