The annual Richmond Christmas Blitz took place on Saturday, 21st December, in the Sports Hall at Orleans Park School.
112 players took part, all had a great time. Several super-stars took part, including England’s number 6, GM Shreyas Royal, England’s number 9, GM Ameet Ghasi, the Ukrainian grandmaster and tournament circuit regular, GM Eldar Gasanov, and WGMs Elmira Mirzoeva, Andreea Navrotescu and Lan Yao.
FM Alex Golding with 9.5 points from 11 rounds, was a convincing winners, and took home £600; GM Shreyas Royal, with 9 points, took 2nd place and £400; Adam Taylor, better known for leading Richmond Junior’s top A1 class, took third place and £300, with his 8.5 points, narrowly ahead of FM Bao Nghia Dong, 4th and £200, on tie-break; GM Eldar Gasanov took 5th for £150; IM Graeme Buckley took 6th for £100.
WGM Elmira Mirzoeva, with a fine score of 8 points, took the Women’s 1st prize of £300; WGM’s Andreea Navrotescu and Lan Yao took the Women’s 2nd and 3rd place prizes for £200 and £100, respectively.
The full final standings can be found at: https://chess-results.com/tnr1075911.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=11.
The full prize list can be found at: https://rjcc.org.uk/adult-tournaments/richmond-blitz.
