DUNDEE CHESS CONGRESS 2024: Castlehill Report!

DUNDEE CHESS CONGRESS 2024
Fri 11^th Oct to Sun 13^th Oct 24
Chaplaincy Centre
Dundee

The Dundee Congress from a Castlehill perspective!

Apologies, for late report, but time is still my enemy. The Dundee Chess Congress was a great success and well supported by the two chess clubs in the City of Dundee (Thank you!).

Castlehill Chess Club Dundee had 3 members in the Premier, 15 in the Major and 8 in the Minor, making 26 players in total, fantastic support!

PREMIER (35 entries)
Andre Babin (1871), seeded 24, had a good congress, finishing on 2½ points out of 5 in a very strong tournament!  Andre`s TPR was an amazing 1999 and finished in equal 12^th place. Well, played Andre!

Jan Alfred Klingelhoefer (1715), seeded 35^th, also had a good tournament, with a plus, TPR of 1878 and finished in equal 26^th place.

Alastair Dawson (1736), seeded 32^nd, had a tough time, but his results did not reflect how well he played. It was a very strong tournament. Alastair finished with a TPR of 1622 and equal 29^th place.

MAJOR (58 entries)
With an amazing 15 players, I can`t cover all of them, but 8 of the players finished with a positive TPR, so well done (Matthew Hunter; Alisdair McLeod; Ana Belen Otreo Seijas; Keith Rose; Colin Young; Subhayu Banerjee; Moritz Bogs & Jan Barron-Majerik).

The big story of the Major was about the two joint winners, both from Castlehill. Yes, it`s congratulations to Alisdair McLeod (1773), seeded 4<sup>th</sup>, and Junior Matthew Hunter (1346), seeded 50<sup>th</sup>, for both finishing on 4½ points and becoming the joint Dundee Chess Congress Major Champions 2024! Outstanding from both players, but especially from young Matthew Hunter! What a tournament against some really strong opposition!  Matthew finished with a TPR of 2070, wow! Alisdair`s TPR was also an amazing 1950! I do not have enough superlatives to do them both justice! Well, done!

Jan Barron-Majerik got the U1610 grading prize and Moritz Bogs jointly took the U1450 grading prize, phenomenal achievement by both players!

MINOR (43 entries)
Castlehill had 3 players finishing in joint 2^nd place on 4 points. Daniel Coleman (1261), seeded 7^th, Ramit Kanodia J17 (992), seeded 21^st, and new member Nour Afaneh J19 (UG), who finished with a TPR of 1444! Nour, welcome to Castlehill Chess Club Dundee! Equal 2^nd in your first congress? Amazing! I have to say, Ramit`s performance, along with Daniel`s was simply amazing as well, as long overdue!

Joshua Smikle (UG), seeded 42, finished on an outstanding 3½ points and won the junior grading prize! Norman Waugh (1188) finished with a TPR of 1363!

CASTLEHILL JUNIORS
Castlehill CC, for this congress decided to pay for our juniors to enter and I believe it was a great success! I mean, Matthew Hunter, Joint Major champion! Ramit Kanodia, joint runner-up in the Minor! Joshua Smikle, Junior grading winner in the Minor! The experience these players and our other juniors (Josh & Noah Dickson) got is priceless! Well, done every single one of you. Castlehill are proud of the way you played in the Congress, fully justifying our commitment to you!

I could say more, but it then becomes a novel, not a post!

Thank you to all our players, including Dundee CC players for supporting the Dundee Congress!

Well done to all the winners, and hopefully we will see you again at the congress in 2025!

For all the result, standing, gradings and much more, visit the Dundee Congress website “HERE“.