There is no doubt about it. Country chess tournaments are the best fun and country areas are great to visit. They are doubly good when organised by the most dedicated of them all, Endel Lane.

The May Laurieton chess open, conducted Saturday & Sunday 6 & 7 May 2006 at the Laurieton Services Club was a great success.

Only about $550 was collected in entry fees and the Laurieton Services Club provided $400 dollars as a donation to the tournament, as well as providing the venue at no cost.

A reasonable field of 26 players competed in this seven round Grand Prix Chess Swiss event. Included in the field were seven Juniors.

All games were played in a good spirit and most were hotly contested. Even the strongest players had to work hard for their points.

Johny Bolens and David Castor tied for first place on 6.5/7 points, and shared the first prize. The trophy was awarded to Johny after using a second tie break system.

Anthony Keuning finished in third place on 5 /7 points.

The A division was won by David Mearns of Port Macquarie.

The B division was won by Leslie Wells from Armidale.

The best under 18 years was won by Logan McArthur.

The best under 14 years Richard Weekes.

The best Local player was won by Michael Weltner.

The best Lady player by Mary Wilkie from Armidale.

The best Junior girl Kate Buchanan

Several players could be considered to have been a little unlucky. Amongst these were Alexander Malejewicz from Victoria and Graeme Deacon from Newcastle, both of whom played strongly.

Of the juniors the unrated eleven year old Richard Weekes finished on four points and Alex Mehan from Maitland on a creditable 3.

The field of 26 players was less than expected , we had been confident of being able to attract at least forty players, considering the attractive prize list and the pleasantness of the local area. The prize list had to be reduced by about one third due to numbers being short of expected.

It is surprising that more players in possession of free train travel entitlements do not take the opportunity of playing in these Country events.

If I am allowed to express a personal feeling, it is this.

For a field of 26 players 7 rounds is really more than required. For an ideal result the maximum number of rounds should not exceed the Square root of the number of players plus 1, rounded to the closest integer. This view differs from that published under the title NSWCA Tournament Guidelines

However it is often not possible to have the Ideal number of rounds as this number must be declared prior to the start of all Tournaments.

George Lithgow. ( Director Of play)