The 47th Blackpool Chess Congress took place on Friday 9th February through to Sunday 11th February. A five round Swiss tournament, with 5 sections and £6700 in Prizes.
A resounding success organised by Congress Director Bill O’Rourke, with 373 entrants. With the event clashing with a 4NCL weekend, the OPEN section was I suppose more open than normal. Offering a chance to many players in the 2100-2200 range an opportunity to go for the big prizes. After 4 rounds, the clear favourite and in the lead was IM Brandon Clarke with 4/4, in a group of 3 players just behind was Great Harwood’s own Martyn Hamer. A game then ebbed and flowed, mainly in Brandon’s favour turned on move 31. Martyn has a choice on which piece to move to d8. The Rook or the Queen – he went with the Queen, which looks to be the best move, two heavy pieces to push that d-pawn down the board. As we know, Chess can be a cruel game. The engines make it look easy, but I am sure Brandon with the extra pawn would still have gone on to win.
It would seem the point of Rd8 was to free up the pathway for the Queen to come to c5. The Rook on d8 would protect the bank rank, and free up the Queen to get into the game. Easy to say all this with hindsight. Brandon went on to win the game, and with it 1st place. Congratulations to Martyn for getting to be so close – better luck next year.
All the games from the Open Section are available on Lichess, select the round you want to review
