Andrew Kay Wins Candidates'

Fifteen players gathered in the small Hertfordshire town of Letchworth, more formally known as Letchworth Garden City, to play in this year's Candidates' Tournament, the first round of the British Championship. It was held at the community hall called "The Settlement" and we are grateful to Simon and Alison Bexfield who arranged the venue and also acted as ghosts. Our thanks also go to Matt Marsh for running the Tournament.

As usual the event had six rounds over three days of the first May Bank Holiday, run on the Swiss system. With six players to qualify for the Challenger's League, four wins would almost certainly ensure qualification, while with three wins one would need to do well on the tie-break to qualify.

Andrew Kay (3d Birmingham) made sure he wasn't worried by tie-break by winning all six. Sam Bithell (1d Cambridge) did very well, only losing to Andrew. On four wins were Boris Mitrovic (2d Edinburgh), Tim Hunt (2d Milton Keynes) and Jamie Taylor (2d Cambridge). Desmond Cann (2d No Club) was top of the group of players on three.

The attractive venue enabled the players space to undertake comprehensive game reviews, assisted by Andrew Simons, last year's championship runner-up, who came down on the Sunday to help. In the evenings those players staying in Letchworth socialised over meals and drinks.

Results