A total of 18 players took part in the 2020 Manx Chess Championship hosted by the Claremont Hotel in Douglas the weekend before last.

The six-round Swiss tournament incorporated the Candidates and Challengers events, organised by the Isle of Man Chess Association (IoMCA), with sponsorship from the IoM International Chess Ltd.

The two-day tournament was won in convincing style by Li Wu with 5.5 points from a possible six, earning him a cash prize of £450.

Neil Davies, Francis Thoday and Alan Orsmby tied for the Candidates with four points each, while Brian Woodard won the Challengers with four points.

By the Sunday morning Wu had won already won four games, so it was already clear that the chasing pack would have to do something very special and he would need to have a sudden collapse for anyone to overtake him.

He did encounter some difficulties in his match against Keith Allen. Although Wu was very solid, Allen had a space advantage and decided to sacrifice. But he could not select the correct variation and Wu was able to use this inaccuracy to gain victory.

Players started with one hour 58 minutes and a two-second increment, simply meaning that each time a move is made the player presses the clock, receiving an additional two seconds.

None of the games played in the tournament lasted more than four hours, but three took place on Saturday meaning, for some, it was a gruelling 12 hours of play.

For non-chess players this might not seem particularly difficult, sitting down and playing a board game, but the level of concentration required that must be sustained can be quite difficult - humans are not like machines.

A simple lapse in attention, a misplaced move and all the hard work up to that position in the game will have been lost. This is why chess can be so frustrating and cruel, even on the verge of victory; an oversight can lead to tears.

This is also why it is important to recharge the energy levels. Some players did not have their lunch and there were some unexpected results, with several of the stronger players perhaps not performing as well as expected.

One of the biggest shocks was when Kyle Cross, a relative newcomer aged 21, won his first round game against Sanjey Reddy a seasoned veteran.

Some credit must also be given to Neil Davies as he was the only player to manage a draw with the newly-crowned champion.

Isle of Man Chess Club wishes to thank Alan Ormsby, the main driving force behind the tournament, with support from Brian Woodard, Glenn Cross and David Sedgewick who was the online arbiter.

Fortunately there were no major disputes as the latter is based in the UK and was unable to attend in person because of travel restrictions.

Details of the results and club events can be viewed on the website http://www.iomchessclub.co.uk/home-page/

l Anyone interest in playing chess, the club meets every Wednesday at 7.30pm in Braddan church. Please contact the chairman, Howard Dobson, on 233303 for more details.