Blackpool Congress – Other Sections

Whilst the focus for recent posts has been with the Open section, this is primarily because of the excellent team we have onsite that allowed us to present the top 12 boards live for users to follow on Lichess and Chess.Com.

Inevitably, this means more focus on the Open section. However, the bulk of the congress comprises chess players up and down the country in the other sections, all with their own stories and competitive stories. Alas, we don’t have any games to share. Shout out to any players from those sections looking in, if you have an interesting game to share from this year’s event, please send it along to us via the Contact Us page, and if we receive enough games, we will present a Games Showcase page to showcase your “immortal” game from the 2025 congress.

Major U2050

The major section had 51 players playing, including many local players from Lancashire clubs. Alas, the local contingent found it a struggle in this section, no local players contending for the prizes. Edourados Ter Gevorkian was the outright winner with 4.5, followed by Richard Jennings in 2nd place with 4/5. Eight players just behind on 3.5.

Intermediate U1850

The Inter had 72 players, and plenty of local interest. Ruslan Dudkin came out on top with a score of 4.5, closely followed by 6 players on 4, including Max Fyson and Om Jayar from Lancaster and Neil Coward of Leyland.

Minor U1700

The Minor section comprised 81 players, and again plenty of local interest. The winner with an 100% record was Michael Creaney, followed by a 3-way tie in second with a score of 4.5 including two players from Lancashire, Janos Mak and Robert Hart.

Standard U1550

Finally, the Standard, the U1550 section. This comprised 93 players. Plenty of local interest, but a very competitive section and the local players missed out of a top-3 prize, primarily because there was a 3-way tie for first place with John McKenna, Charlie Pearson and John Donegan tied for first with 4.5, eight players just behind with a score of 4 including two local players Neil Treadwell and Con Carey.