Post date: 23-Oct-2016 20:58:50
Congratulations to Sara Sengenberger and Cyril Foster on their prizewinning successes at the 4th annual Witney Congress held this weekend (22 & 23 October) at Cokethorpe School, and organized by Mike Truran.
Sara was the lowest-graded player in the Under-145 section (indeed, she could have played in the Under-120 section), but despite that finished in a tie for first place with five other players on 3.5 points out of 5. A remarkable result!
In the Under-170 Section, Cyril Foster was also among the prizewinners, scoring 3.5 points out of 5 to finish equal second with two other players.
Rich Weston also played in the Under-170 section. He was sadly out of form on the Saturday, but recovered on the Sunday to finish with 2.5/5. Rod Nixon played in just the first three rounds of the Open section, finishing on 1.5/3.
The winner of the Open section was Grandmaster Dr John Nunn with 4/5. He had already made sure of clear first place after four rounds, but was beaten by FIDE Master David Zakarian in the final round. David, who plays mainly for Oxford's 4 Nations Chess League team these days, played for Cowley in the 2010-11 season.
A further Cowley connection was that the event was controlled by Tim Dickinson and Priscilla Morris. Many members who know Priscilla at the club may not be aware that Tim (who of course regularly controls the club's two annual Blitz tournaments along with Priscilla) also played for Cowley for several years and captained Cowley 1.
Cokethorpe School is an excellent venue, although it is unfortunately rather inaccessible for those without cars--probably one of the factors limiting the number of entries. Overall numbers were disappointing this year, and I hope this will be reversed in 2017. I commend the Witney Weekend Congress to you as a fine event well worthy of the support of local clubs and players. I hope in particular that more Cowley players will be able and willing to take part next time.
Gerard O'Reilly