Strange way to be joint first at Staffordshire

At the Staffordshire Congress, held at Leek, September 16-17th, Jonah Willow was joint first, winning £112.50.

However, this was the result of receiving a full-point bye in the final round! Despite being on 2.5/4, the Open section only had 9 players and he was one of the few players eligible for a bye. So he had to watch as the top 2 boards drew, giving him a share of the prize!

Meanwhile, in the Major Hambel Willow scored 1.5/5, and in the Minor Joseph Hurst scored 3/5.

Let's hope the numbers in the Open improve next year, as it was a well-run event in a good new venue.

All the results and crosstables are on chess-results.com.