Last night we held our trophy presentation evening for the club’s three internal summer tournaments. The evening marked the conclusion of another successful year of chess and provided an opportunity to celebrate both our competitions and the people who make the club what it is.
Alongside our newest trophy, the club also celebrated two long-standing competitions. The Nuneaton Open, first contested in 1959, remains a cornerstone of the club’s competitive calendar, while the Frank Oldaker Trophy, introduced in 2009, continues to honour both strong play and the club’s traditions.
This year also saw the introduction of the Rayner-Visgandis Trophy, created in memory of two much-loved and long-standing members, John Rayner and Bernard Visgandis. John served as Treasurer of the club for almost 40 years, while Bernard was a close friend to many and a devoted player for over 25 years. Both are deeply missed. We were honoured to welcome Sandra Visgandis, Bernard’s wife, who kindly joined us to present the trophies — a moment which meant a great deal to everyone present.
Special congratulations to our tournament winners:
- Nuneaton Open: Ethan Lynch & Philip Briggs
- Frank Oldaker Trophy: Fransisco Ruiz
- Rayner-Visgandis Trophy: Hanoch Muprapallil
Tournament controllers, Aoise Evans and Paul Davies, have kindly provided a short summary detailing the Nuneaton Open and Frank Oldaker trophy below.
Nuneaton Open 2025
The first draw for the Nuneaton Open 2025 was sent out on the first of May. Philip Briggs, Paul Davies and Maurice Staples all won their first round games, but Paul Davies took the lead in round two when Maurice and Philip played each other and drew. Round two also saw the addition of Adrian Fowkes to the player list bringing the number of participants to a nice even 10. Since Adrian had no grade under the current system, he was assigned an estimate of 1800 for the purposes of the tournament.
In round three, Philip won against Paul reversing the latter’s half point lead and it was Philip who led the field by that half point from then on. At the commencement of the final round Philip had 3.5 points and Ethan Lynch, having only lost to Philip himself, was his closest competitor on 3. Henry Wood withdrew from the final round due to university commitments. We hope his studies bring him enjoyment and success.
Philip drew his final game with Colin Green while Ethan won against Maurice Staples meaning that Philip and Ethan tied for first place with 4 points out of 5, just pipping Paul Davies and his 3.5. Third place was also a tie – three-way between Colin Green, Maurice Staples and Tony Green. Congratulations to all, particularly Philip and Ethan. Thank you to everyone who took part for the promptly reported results and for helping the competition run smoothly.
The final table reads as follows:
| Rank | SNo. | Name | Rating | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Briggs Philip | 2120 | 4 |
| 2 | 5 | Lynch Ethan | 1857 | 4 |
| 3 | 2 | Paul Davies | 1997 | 3½ |
| 4 | 3 | Green Colin | 1994 | 3½ |
| 5 | 4 | Staples Maurice | 1950 | 2½ |
| 6 | 7 | Green Tony | 1841 | 2½ |
| 7 | 6 | Glenn Thomas | 1850 | 2 |
| 8 | 9 | Cerba Vilius | 1644 | 2 |
| 9 | 8 | Fawkes Adrian | 1800 | 1½ |
| 10 | 10 | Wood Henry | 1638 | 1 |
Tournament controller
Frank Oldaker Tournament 2025
There were nine entries this year, which reduced to eight when Robert (Bobby) Evans unfortunately had to withdraw through ill health half-way through. Our best wishes to him for his recovery in any case. This caused a bit of a headache, as he had been awarded a half- point bye in Round 2, but a bit of rejigging of the draw allowed us to continue.
My thanks go to Aoise Evans, our guru with the tournament control software, for showing me how! Stuart Simpson was the top-rated player initially, but had some unexpected losses. After a couple of rounds it became clear that Francisco Ruiz and Scott Middleton-Tolley were the front runners, with Jiri Stepan hot on their heels.
The crunch came in Round 4, when Francisco beat Scott with black. With both of them winning in round 5, that meant that Francisco (4.5/5) won the tournament undefeated, with Scott (4/5) second. In the end, Jiri lost to both of them, allowing Roy Pugh and Dan Lomax to catch him and tie for third on 3/5.
The final table reads as follows:
| Rank | SNo. | Name | Rating | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Ruiz Francisco | 1434 | 4½ |
| 2 | 2 | Middleton-Tolley Scott | 1498 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 | Stepan Jiri | 1392 | 3 |
| 4 | 7 | Pugh Roy | 1291 | 3 |
| 5 | 6 | Lomax Daniel | 1324 | 3 |
| 6 | 4 | Wilson Ken | 1430 | 1 |
| 7 | 1 | Simpson Stuart | 1522 | 1 |
| 8 | 8 | Aspley Chris | 0 | 1 |
Congratulations to Francisco, and thanks to everyone for taking part and showing great competitive but friendly spirit.
Tournament controller