Popular Great Yarmouth chess competition hailed as a success
Action from the Great Yarmouth Chess Congress. Grandmaster Mark Hebden v International Master Alan Merry. Pictures: John Wickham - Credit: Archant
One of England's brightest young chess hopes, Suffolk-based Alan Merry, took first prize in the open tournament at the Kingsley Healthcare sponsored Great Yarmouth Chess Congress.
Action from the Great Yarmouth Chess Congress. Ben Sadler v John Weston. Pictures: John Wickham - Credit: Archant
The 20-year-old Bury St Edmunds international master, who has already notched his first grandmaster norm on the way to the title, beat established English grandmaster Mark Hebden en route to victory with 4.5 points out of five.
Nearly 100 players took part in the event at Great Yarmouth Town Hall, matching last year's record turnout, with a large contingent from Norfolk and Suffolk.
Karthik Saravanan, 15, an England junior international, from Gorleston, took the junior prize in a tie with Alex Sheerin, from Ipswich.
There was a strong regional showing in the under-120 grade tournament with John Weston, from Fakenham, Stephen Cotterell, from Lowestoft, and Kian Moghaddas, a junior from Norwich, sharing the top prize.
Action from the Great Yarmouth Chess Congress. Pictures: John Wickham - Credit: Archant
There was a good entry in all four sections attracted by an enhanced prize fund of more than £2,000. Controller John Wickham said: 'We would like to thank our new headline sponsor, Kingsley Healthcare, for making the increased prize fund possible. We are also grateful to our other loyal sponsors, including the Town Centre Partnership and the borough council.
'In the top section we had English grandmaster Mark Hebden on 3.5 points and international master Alan Merry on 2.5 points when they met in round four. Alan managed to beat Mark and then won his final game to finish top with a score of four-and-a-half points out of five.'
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Daya Thayan, chief executive of Lowestoft based Kingsley Healthcare, said: 'As a company, we take great pride in supporting successful events and worthy causes in our local communities.'
The Great Yarmouth Chess Congress 2017 winners were as follows:
Open
1 Alan Merry 4.5/5
Joint 2nd Mark Hebden and Nghia Dong 4/5
Junior - Karthik Saravanan and Alex Sheerin
U170
Joint 1st Robert Clegg, Nigel Holroyd and Russell Goodfellow 4/5
U145
1 Mark Bryant 4.5/5
Joint 2nd Colin Payne, David Payne, Justin Morgans, Keith Woodcock and Ryan Barnes 3.5/5
GP – U133 Jonathan Reeve 3/5
U120
Joint 1st John Weston, Stephen Cotterell, Alan Fraser and Kian Moghaddas 4/5
GP – U102 Michael Burrage 3/5
Junior prize donated by Warren Kingston for highest placed Junior in U120 to Ben Sadler.
