The 2022 Hamilton Open provided a welcome boost to classical chess in Scotland, as the first national over-the-board tournament of its kind since the start of the pandemic.
Hamilton Chess Club’s well-organised event brought together 50 players, from talented ungraded juniors to experienced International Masters, to compete in a single open section in Bothwell Bowling Club on the weekend of 2/3 April. The format was a five-round Swiss pairings at a time control of 75+0.
Govanhill were represented by two players, Alex Radevic and Derek Rankine, pictured above with Zizheng ‘Friend of Govanhill’ Liu of Strathclyde University (l-r: Alex, Zizheng, Derek).
Derek and Zizheng both achieved a score of 2.5/5, and were pleased to share the best ungraded player prize. 1359-rated Alex went even better, scoring 3/5 and narrowly missing out on the award for the best u-1500 player.
In round three, Zizheng faced 2400+ International Master Andrew Greet on board one. IM Greet went on to win the tournament with a perfect 5/5.
The full results have been published by Chess Scotland.