Some Photographic Memories of Blackpool Chess Conference 2008
All photographs on this page were taken by Steve Connor, the official photographer for the event!
Round 1 - 7th March 2008
 GM Nigel Davies (right) plays Robert Taylor from Preston. Roger Williamson 2147 (light blue top) is in play with GM Mark Hebden; result 0-1! |
 FM Radovanovic 2340 in play with Richard J Cannon 2095 |
 Graham Lilley |
 Clive Waters 2095 alongside GM Dgebuadze 2512 |
 FM David Eggleston |
 Richard Mycroft 2143 (left) v Latvian GM Igors Rausis 2520 |
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 Challengers section |
 Major section |
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 Minor section |
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Round 2 - 8th March 2008 (am)
 GM Dgebuadze 2512 |
 Sheila Dines |
 Mark Hebden (red top) |
 Roger Williamson |
 left GM Nigel Davies v Darryl Wolstencroft |
 IM Nicolai Pedersen (right) v Akash Jain |
 Robert Taylor (right) is deep in thought against Christopher Dossett |
 Lower boards in the Open section |
 Johan Holmstrom from Denmark playing in the Challengers section |
 Major section |
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 More deep thought, this time in the Challengers section |
 A view of the Minor, with Richard Fox from Bolton (front right) sporting his Manchester City cap |
Round 3 - 8th March 2008 (pm)
 Stephen Mulligan (left) v Glenn Charleshouse |
 Open section, board 16 onwards (top 15 boards are on the stage area) |
 Top four boards in the Challengers section |
 Major section - some players find time to read while waiting for their late opponents to arrive! |
 Minor section (nearest the camera) and Standard section (beyond the row of tables near the top of the picture) |
Round 4 - 9th March 2008 (am)
 right: Don Mason in play against Dominic Foord |
 WFM Irina Gorshkova |
 GM Nigel Davies (left) starts play against Thomas Pym |
 IM Nicolai Pedersen |
 left: Ben Purton in play against Martyn Hamer |
 Entrance to the Winter Gardens Pavilion; the chess is being played to the right in the large hall |
 Gareth Ellis doing good business on the ChessMaze International bookstall with Chief Arbiter David Welch nearby |
 The Minor section starts promptly at 9.30am |
Round 5 - 9th March 2008 (pm)
 Leader on 4/4 GM Dgebuadze 2512 |
 Second place on 3.5/4 GM Rausis |
 Malcolm Peacock (left) and Brett Lund, both from Preston, about to start play |
 IM Pedersen 2435 (left) v Tristan Cox 2153. In the red top; Alan Walton 2207 |
 Top boards in the Challengers battle for prizes - Roger Jennings on the left and Lancashire's U175 captain John Cooper in the red jumper |
 Main playing area viewed from the stage |
 The tournament was again extremely popular with junior players - this is Rhys Cumming from Millfield |
 Henry Broadley from Chorley |
 Mani Periasamymanjula from Ashtead |
 Final round in the Standard section |
 The top boards in the Open section were on display during the event |
 Players using the analysis room |
Prizegiving - 9th March 2008 (pm)
Tournament Director Simon Woodcock appears on most of these pictures and so we haven't included his name in any captions!
 Winner with 4.5/5 GM Dgebuadze 2512 |
 FM David Eggleston (left) and GM Igors Rausis |
 Darryl Wolstencroft |
 Malcolm Peacock |
 Matthew Mackenzie |
 WFM Irina Gorshkova |
 Raymond Cannon |
 Elliot Frew |
 John Cooper |
 Sarah Hegarty |
 Mark Talbot |
 Arunas Gedvilas |
 left to right: John Yee, Paul Smith and Russell Goodfellow |
 Shane McCabe |
 Henry Broadley |
 Anthony Foster and Robert Spence |
 Vlade Luzajic |
 Michael Collier (left) and Nathan Talbot (right) |
 David Buckell (left) and Graham Pennington |
 Paul Salisbury |
 Tom Fielding |
 Kenny Quinn |
 Daniel Walmsley |
 Andrew Zigmond |
 Ian Lamb |
 Evie Hollingworth |
 Dennis Davies |
 Tom Fielding |
 Rachel Cass |
 Jade Stirrup, Kevin Thomas and John Moore |
 Isobel Cotogni |
 Philip Smith |
 Scott Miller |
 Paul Rabbitte |
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 Lothian Innes |
 Martin Brown |
 The family of the late Mike O'Hara presented a new trophy in his memory, awarded for the best performance by a junior in the Open |