Congratulations to all Bedford players who dared to take on the best at the British Championships in Leicester. However much you fancy yourself within your club or local league, this really is the chance to compare yourself against the best at a national level. I don’t remember many games in my life, but I could still describe most of the 22 games I played at Portsmouth (1976) and Chester (1979), even though my results were extremely modest.
Anyway, Bedford Chess club were well represented at all levels in the championships at Leicester this year:-
- British Chess Championship – Toby Cox (1/9), Andrew Ledger (5.5/9)
- Over 50 – Steve Ledger (3.5/7), David Ledger (5.5/7 – 2nd)
- Over 65 – Paul Habershon (4/7)
- Under 12 – Ramsey Dairi (6/7 – 1st!!)
- Under 8 – Daniella Dairi (2/7)
- U1450 – David Cox (2/6)
- U1500 – Mahmoud Dairi (2.5/5)
Well done to everyone. Obviously Ramsey is the stand out performance – I followed most of his games live but 3 of them particularly caught my eye.
As James Gardner observes, game 3 was a mature squeeze against a higher rated player.
I really like 22. Rh6 in game 5.
The final round is always tough. I thought Ramsey was struggling for most of it but suddenly he’d won the knight, rook and game in a handful of moves!
Ramsey gets his just deserts …
