Last week 445 players went to the Scarborough Chess Congress; the Crewe CC contingent are pictured below. The picture was taken at the impressive Spa Complex, overlooking the Sun Court, with the North Sea in the backgound. The Sun Court’s chequered flooring could not have been better designed to make chess players feel at home. One feature I like about this weekender is that, depending on your luck, you might see the sea from your seat in the playing area. Best result was Jamie, who got 3.5 in the major.

Elsewhere, James Ratcliffe decided to take on a new tournament, the Coventry International Masters. He scored 4/9 in a field brimming with titled players. Not bad when you consider that he was outrated by 200+ points in most of his games!