The 2nd OTB George Pyrich OTB Allegro Championship Series 22-23-Castlehill.

The George Pyrich OTB Allegro Championship Series 22-23

The 2^nd George Pyrich OTB Allegro Championship Series took place at Castlehill Chess Club Dundee on Thursday 19^th January 23, 7:30pm.

What an amazing turnout with 39 players taking part! We could have had even more as two clubs of the six TAFCA clubs were not represented this time!

CLUB INFO
1.Castlehill CC:  21 players (Out of this world and a big thank you for your support for your club on the night!)
2.Dundee CC: 7 players
3.Perth CC: 6 players
4.St.Andrews Uni CC 5 players

Castlehill Chess Club, Dundee had 12 trestle tables set out with 24 boards, pieces and clocks, enough for 48 players! If more had turned up they were still able to accommodate up to 70 players if needed due to the fact they have just updated their chess equipment, including new weighted chess pieces and digital DGT3000 clocks! Nothing but the best for Castlehill! It was impressive to say the least!

Congratulations to Ed Spencer (Dundee) who won all 5 of his matches, including the last one against Jacques Ophoff CM (Dundee) to clinch the title of TAFCA Castlehill Allegro Champion 2022-23! Well played Ed!

Well played also on the night were the two joint winners in the Perth stage in December 22, Alisdair McLeod (Castlehill) and James Anderson (Dundee), finishing in equal 2^nd place!

STANDINGS (On the night)
1^st Ed Spencer (Dundee) 5 points:
2^nd= Jacques Ophoff CM & James Anderson (Dundee)
Rishi Vijayakumar J11 & Alisdair McLeod (Castlehill)  All on 4 points:
& Jan Thiel (St.Andrews)
7^th= Martin Gourlay (Perth), Ray Flood (Dundee) & Ramit Kanodia J15 (Castlehill) 3½ pts each:

Right to left as you look at it: Jacques Ophoff CM and Ed Spencer 

The format was a 5 round Swiss, 15 minutes each player, one point for a win, a ½ point for a draw.

There was a raffle with some fantastic prizes on offer from a bottle of OVD rum to the latest edition of the Modern Chess Openings encyclopaedia from Batsford! In total an amazing £90 was raised which helped in some way to pay for the night which included an extraordinary table full of food from sandwiches, sausage roll, to crisps and some very spicy stuff, plus beverages as well, a feast not only for your stomach, but your eyes as well!

Thank you to all the people who donated the prizes for the raffle, and helped Castlehill CC to cover any cost involved on the night!

OVERALL STANDINGS (after 2 events)
1^st= James Anderson (Dundee) & Alisdair McLeod (Castlehill) 7½ points
3^rd Ed Spencer (Dundee) 6 points
4^th Rishi Vijayakumar J11 (Castlehill)

James Anderson and Alisdair McLeod are doing well after two events, but now have Ed Spencer and Rishi Vijayakumar breathing down their neck!

 James Anderson (Dundee)

The 3rd event is on Monday 27^th February 23, 7:30pm at Dundee Chess Club, where a very warm welcome awaits all who attend!

Thank you to the host club Castlehill, to James Anderson for all the computer work and to you the players that supported us in big numbers to make it a great night’s chess once again!

For the results and standings go to the TAFCA website “HERE”.