Michael Adams and Katarzyna Toma win English Championships

by André Schulz
6/1/2023 – Michael Adams and Katarzyna Toma were the favourites to win the Open and Women's Championships of the English Chess Federation. However, both winners needed a bit of luck in some of their games. The ECF Championship is a very young tournament and many of the participants were youngsters. | Photos: English Chess Federation

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The English Chess Federation (ECF) held their English National Championships over Whitsun. The competition has only existed for three years and is not to be confused with the British National Championship.

Seven rounds Swiss were played over four days in an Open Championship and a Women's Championship. On Friday (26 May), Saturday and Sunday the men and women played double rounds with classical time control. Monday saw the seventh and final round, followed by the prize-giving ceremony.

The clear favourite by rating was Michael Adams. He was joined by four other grandmasters, Mark Hebden, Peter Wells, Daniel Gormally and John Emms. In total, almost 70 players took part in this championship.

Michael Adams lived up to his role as favourite and won the championship with 6 out of 7. After two wins, Adams drew with fellow Grandmaster Mark Hebden in the third round and in the final round, Adams was lucky to draw with Jonah Willow, which was enough to win the title. The winner's prize was 1500 pounds.

With 5.5 points, young IMs Marcus Harvey (26) and Matthews Wadsworth (22) finished ahead of the other grandmasters.

The women's championship went to favourite WGM Katarzyna Toma. However, in round 2 she overlooked a mate in one, allowing 15-year-old Nina Pert to lead the field for a long time. It was only in the final round that Toma was able to take the lead.

Like Nina Pert, half of the women's competitors were teenagers. 8-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan finished ninth. She is currently the best girl of her age in the world.

Kushal Jakhria, an 8-year-old, competed in the Open. Seeded number 50, he finished 29th with 3.5 points.

Final standings Open

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Adams, Michael 6 0
2 Harvey, Marcus R 5,5 1
3 Wadsworth, Matthew J 5,5 0
4 Hebden, Mark L 5 0
5 Willow, Jonah B 5 0
6 Gormally, Daniel W 5 0
7 Khandelwal, Ankush 5 0
8 Finn, Peter 4,5 0
9 Pert, Richard G 4,5 0
10 Derakhshani, Borna 4,5 0
11 Merriman, John 4,5 0
12 Shearsby, Jude 4,5 0
13 Wells, Peter K 4,5 0
14 Ghasi, Ameet K 4 0
15 Badacsonyi, Stanley 4 0
16 Ashton, Adam G 4 0
17 Emms, John M 4 0
18 Jackson, James P 4 0
19 Boswell, Jacob Connor 4 0
20 Ismail, Mohammed Aayan 4 0

66 players

Partien

Final standings Women's Championship
 

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Toma, Katarzyna 5,5 0
2 Varney, Zoe 5 0
3 Kueh, Audrey 5 0
4 Hryshchenko, Kamila 5 0
5 Pert, Nina P 4,5 0
6 Rida, Ruqayyah 4,5 0
7 Subramanian, Anusha 4,5 0
8 Longson, Sarah N 4 0
9 Sivanandan, Bodhana 4 0
10 Dicen, Elis Denele 4 0
11 Maton, Emily 3,5 0
12 Weersing, Abigail R 3,5 0
13 Hariharan, Shambavi 3,5 0
14 Jayawarna, Thisumi 3 0
15 Catabay, Mae 3 0
16 Sheikh, Anum 3 0
17 Latypova, Olga L 2,5 0
18 Gamal, Alaa 2 0
19 Gorrepati, Soumya 2 0
20 Sengenberger, Sara 2 0
21 Milewska, Agnieszka 2 0
22 Walker, Kate 1,5 0

Games

Tournament page...


André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.