The BCC 2019 took place at the Riviera International Centre, Torquay from 26th July to 4th August 2019.
The 106th British Chess Championships resulted in successful defences by both Michael Adams and Jovanka Houska.
Michael led from start to finish without ever being able to build up a lead of more than half a point. David Howell led the chase but dropped draws in rounds 2 and 5. He had caught up by the time he and Mickey faced off in round 7 (game drawn), but a draw against Ravi Haria in round 8 left him needing Michael to drop points in the last round to catch him. Michael’s win against Stephen Gordon decided the Championship.
After 5 rounds, Jovanka trailed WGM Toma Katarzyna, but a strong run-in left her with a clear 1.5 point advantage.
Congratulations to Charlie Storey who got an IM norm.
In the subsidiary tournaments, Brandon Clarke had excellent results, winning both the AM Open and the Major Open, conceding a solitary draw in the Major Open. Both Senior tournaments were hard fought and resulted in 3-way ties, while all Junior tournaments had individual winners. Seniors are obviously more amenable to sharing. For a complete list of prizewinners, go to https://www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk/prizewinners-list-2019/
A few oddities
Some people may have noticed that Richard Palliser had default wins in rounds 3 and 4 of the British Championship. But this also happened to a player in the Soanes tournament the first weekend. And the only player to ask for a bye in the AM Open was the only player to win a subsequent game by default. These things don’t happen very often and three times single tournament or festival is extremely rare.
A player reported being disturbed by something beeping. He reported this to an arbiter, who started investigating, then reported it to another. With both arbiters calling in help, there were four arbiters trying to find the beep. Finally, one checked the player’s own bag to find a clock beeping every 10 seconds. The moral – check yourself and your equipment before complaining.
Finally, a player comes into the congress office and asks the British Championship Manager what he needs to do about getting his winnings. The BCM asks which section he is in and receives the reply ‘Open’. Assuming he means the Major Open, he is directed to the person taking bank details. At this point, two members of the control team quietly point out that the player was GM Stephen Gordon who had just lost to Mickey Adams on Board 1 in the Championship. Not quite as bad as asking Magnus Carlsen’s nationality, but getting there!
— Adrian Elwin, Director of Home Chess