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75
and still growing.
The
Braille Chess Association celebrated its 75th year
with two events, the strongest ever international event for blind
and partially sighted players at Durham in August. In November, we held a more
local celebration with
50 competitors plus partners and friends from the UK
, the Netherlands,
and Ireland at Solihull’s
Holiday Inn. for a weekend rapid play. It was decided to have
a rapid play tournament to allow more social time and for a leisurely
celebration dinner, where chairman Alec Crombie
paid tribute to the many who have helped us reach this
milestone, such as arbiters , Gerry Walsh, Peter Gibbs, and Julie Leonard, our resourceful
fund- raiser, Julia Scott., past and present officials, Hans Cohn,
Stan Lovell, and Norman Wragg.
We also welcomed one of our youngest ever competitors,
9 year old Quinn Stemson who, like all our junior entries,
enjoyed the event free of charge.
The
B.C.A. prides itself on its sociable side but over the board the
rivalry is keen. In the
end the top seeds triumphed, Chris Ross, Colin Crouch and Graham
Lilley won the Open scoring 4 from 5, with Chris having the trophy on tie
break. Their international
team-mates Steve Hilton and Bill Armstrong came fourth= while
grading prizes went to Sean Loftus and Ernie McElroy (both from
Ireland) Steve
Thacker and Rob van Aurich (Netherlands).
In
the Minor, Richard Kidals scored 4.5
to win, closely followed by George Phillips, Orlando Sobers,
and Mark Kirk ham. Geoff
Patching, John Osborne and Ed Green shared the main grading awards
while once again Dorothy
Hodges emerged as the best in the lower graded group.
With
such a strongly supported event and a thriving entry in the 4NCL
The
B.C.A. is looking forward to another twenty five years of successful
growth to reach our centenary
in 2032.
Bill
Armstrong
B.C.A. Publicity officer
November 2007
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