David Howell wins the Caplin Hastings online tournament [from Chessbase.com]
Full report by Carlos Alberto Colodro here – https://en.chessbase.com/post/david-howell-wins-hastings-online-tournament-2021
Results and prizes are here – https://hastingschess.com/caplin-all-play-all-results-and-prizes/
Picture of DH by Brendan O’Gorman
Already closing on a hundred editions, the Hastings International Chess Congress was organized this year despite the pandemic. Sponsored by Caplin Systems for a second time, the tournament was played online on Saturday and Sunday.
This time around, ten top English players were joined by the winner and runner-up of the Caplin British Online Chess Championships – IM Matthew Wadsworth and IM Matthew Turner. Michael Adams, Luke McShane, Gawain Jones, David Howell and Nicholas Pert, all top-10 players in England, participated.
The tournament was a 12-player single round robin with a time control of 15 minutes for the game and 10-second increments from the first move. Six rounds were played on Saturday and the remaining five took place on Sunday. The games were played on the Tornelo platform, with special regulations put in place to secure fair play in the online event.
Danny Gormally also had a good performance, especially against the four strongest players in the field — who, incidentally, finished in the first four positions of the standings table.
Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th January 2021. The event has a player fund of £7,000, and a first prize of £1200.
The fine list of players represents England’s leading grandmasters and masters – GM Michael Adams, GM Luke McShane, GM David Howell, GM Gawain Jones, GM Nicholas Pert, IM Ameet Ghasi, GM Daniel Gormally, GM Mark Hebden, GM Keith Arkell, and GM Glenn Flear. Two further places are taken up by the Winner and Runner-up in the Caplin British Online Chess Championships – IM Matthew Wadsworth and IM Matthew Turner
Play will start at 13.00hrs each day with 6 rounds played on Saturday and 5 rounds on Sunday. This will be a rapidplay format (15 minutes + 10 seconds per player, per round)
This promises to be an entertaining contest in the long tradition of Hastings Chess. The sponsor, Caplin Systems, is a fintech specialist in etrading technology, so this seems a very appropriate link between the sponsor and the event. Caplin has open positions in a number of departments and people seeking a career change are encouraged to look at www.caplin.com/business/careers
Results and pairings can be found here – http://chess-results.com/tnr545595.aspx?lan=1
Watch live on Chess24 — https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/caplin-hastings-online-2021/1/1/1
Commentary on the Hastings event, by GM Simon Williams and WGM Jovanka Houska, will be via Twitch.tv/gingergm
Watch live on Chessbomb – https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-caplin-hastings-online
[photo credits (variously) – Ray Morris-Hill, John Upham, John Saunders, ECF]