2009 Gibraltar Chess Festival - Amateur Entrants
This page features entrants to the Amateur events. Short biographies (and most of the photos) are by - please let me know if I have made any mistakes! A list of the tournament's administrative staff may be found here. Entrants for other sections: Masters • Challengers
A simple list of entrants to ALL 2009 Gibtelecom Festival tournaments, showing full FIDE registration details may be found here.
Gibtelecom Amateur Sections (ratings from January 2009 List, latest ECF grades in brackets)
Last Edited: Thursday January 1, 2009 3:57 PM
AMATEUR 1 • skip to the Amateur 2 players |
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Ellen Carlsen |
NOR | 1888 | Born in 1989, with a Norwegian national rating of 1748. It's possible you have heard of her younger brother, or maybe see a likeness... now, what was his name? No, I can't remember... |
Klaus Kuenitz |
GER | 1663 | Klaus was born in 1944 and has played in Gibraltar for the past four years, taking part in the Masters, Challengers and Amateur. He won the 2nd week Amateur event in 2007. |
Achraf Oumalek |
MAR | (1645) | Member of the Case d'Or club of Benslimane. |
Geoffrey Bishop |
ENG | (127) | Born in 1948, Geoffrey plays his chess for Chislehurst CC. In 2008 he scored a modest 1½/5 in Amateur 1 but came storming back to take the £1,000 first prize in Amateur 2 with 5/5. |
Jonathan Rashleigh |
ENG | (123) | Born in 1950. A member of Stratford Chess Club, and with a simul draw versus GM Jonathan Speelman to his credit. Scored 3½/5 in the Gibtelecom Amateur 1 in 2007. |
| Juan Carlos Travieso O'Bourke |
ESP | 1515 | Born in 1973, Juan Carlos is from Gran Canaria. |
| Jonathan Wright |
ENG | (1500?) | Jonathan has played at two Gibtelecom Festivals but has so far avoided contact with my camera lens and my word processor - quite an achievement. He scored 2½/5 in the 2007 Challengers 1, and in 2008 he scored 3/5 in both Amateur 1 and Amateur 2. I'm a bit unsure whether he is the London-based Jonathan Wright with an ECF grade of 137 or the 14-year-old Scottish player of the same name with an ECF grade of 122. |
Jon Coats |
ENG | (107) | From Swindon in Wiltshire. Jon plays for the Brown Jack pub team. He scored 2½/5 and 2/5 in the 2008 Gibtelecom Amateur tournaments. |
Paul Haddock |
ENG | (102) | Paul plays for the Met Police CC. He played in Gibraltar in 2007 and 2008. Paul also has a USCF rating of 1460 (he played in the US National Open in Las Vegas in June 2008). |
| Aztlan Badillo Garcia | MEX | (1383) | Born in 1996, U12 state champion 2008, finalist in U14 for 2009. |
Marian Cox |
ENG | (74) | A member of Horsham CC. Marian made 2½/5 and 2/5 in the two 2008 Gibtelecom Amateur events. |
Reginald Cox |
ENG | (61) | A member of Beckenham and Bromley CC and a regular visitor to the Jersey, Guernsey and Royal Beacon congresses. Reg made 1½/5 in the two 2008 Gibtelecom Amateur events. |
Ian Apps |
ENG | (58) | Ian plays for the Metropolitan Police CC and has a grade of 61. Ian played in Gibraltar in 2007 and 2008. |
| Luis Correa Vargas | MEX | 1192 | Born 1998, U10 state champion 2008. |
| Raul Vargas Salgado | MEX | 1156 | Born 1998, 3rd in 2008 state U10s, finalist for the 2009 U12 championship. |
| Ray Apps |
ENG | (?) | |
Youssef Ennejjari |
MAR | - | Born 1978, Youssef is a member of the Rachad Bernoussi club of Casablanca, Morocco. He was due to play here in 2008 but in the end didn't appear. |
AMATEUR 2 • skip to the Amateur 1 players |
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| Ellen Carlsen |
NOR | 1888 | Born in 1989, with a Norwegian national rating of 1748. It's possible you have heard of her younger brother, or maybe see a likeness... now, what was his name? No, I can't remember... |
Philip J Kennedy |
ENG | (144) | A member of Exmouth CC and also Tiverton. This will be Philip's third visit to Gibraltar (he has also played in the Isle of Man). He scored 3½/5 in the 2007 Amateur 2 tournament and made the same score in the same event in 2008; he even lost to the same player (Klaus Kuenitz) after the same sort of tactical oversight. Philip will be hoping to go one better in 2009. |
Nigel Livesey |
ENG | (143) | Member of Bourne End CC. Nigel scored 2½ and 3 respectively in last year's Amateur events. He scored 4½/7 to finish 3rd= in the 2006 Monarch Assurance "Tony Bridson" Major. |
| Abdeslam Sbai | MAR | (1717) | |
Peter Hannan |
ENG | (135) | Peter is a qualified ECF arbiter and a member of Charlton Chess Club. Hopefully, when someone finally writes the definitive account of the golden age of English chess, Peter and his wife Rosemary will be given credit for the highly significant part they played in it. For many years they threw open the doors of their house to impoverished or itinerant chessplayers who happened to be in the London area at the time. Just to name two: Murray Chandler and David Bronstein were house-guests of the Hannans for significant periods of time. |
Robert E Rough |
SCO | (136) ( 1607) |
The FIDE List doesn't show a rating for Robert (but gives his birth year as 2000!). Robert has an ECF grade of 136 (which converts to about 1688). Back home in Inverness he weighs in at 1607 (Oct 2008). Robert shared 2nd= place in the 2007 Gibtelecom Amateur B tournament. In 2008 he scored 2/5 in the Amateur 2 event. |
| Klaus Kuenitz |
GER | 1663 | Klaus was born in 1944 and has played in Gibraltar for the past four years, taking part in the Masters, Challengers and Amateur. He won the 2nd week Amateur event in 2007. |
| Achraf Oumalek |
MAR | (1645) | Member of the Case d'Or club of Benslimane. |
| Geoffrey Bishop |
ENG | (127) | Born in 1948, Geoffrey plays his chess for Chislehurst CC. In 2008 he scored a modest 1½/5 in Amateur 1 but came storming back to take the £1,000 first prize in Amateur 2 with 5/5. |
| Brian J Izzard | ENG | (126) | Member of Brighton Chess Club. Scored 2½/5 at the 2007 Gibtelecom Amateur 2 event and 2/5 in the same event in 2008. |
| Michael R Wiltshire |
ENG | (132) | Michael is chairman of Kent County Chess Association and is secretary of Dartford Chess Club. He also plays for Insurance Chess Club. |
| Denis O'Connell |
IRL | 1586 | Denis, from County Cork, is a regular tournament competitor in Ireland. |
| Jonathan Wright |
ENG | (1500?) | Jonathan has played at two Gibtelecom Festivals but has so far avoided contact with my camera lens and my word processor - quite an achievement. He scored 2½/5 in the 2007 Challengers 1, and in 2008 he scored 3/5 in both Amateur 1 and Amateur 2. I'm a bit unsure whether he is the London-based Jonathan Wright with an ECF grade of 137 or the 14-year-old Scottish player of the same name with an ECF grade of 122. |
| Jon Coats |
ENG | (107) | From Swindon in Wiltshire. Jon plays for the Brown Jack pub team. He scored 2½/5 and 2/5 in the 2008 Gibtelecom Amateur tournaments. |
| Paul Haddock |
ENG | (102) | Paul plays for the Met Police CC. He played in Gibraltar in 2007 and 2008. Paul also has a USCF rating of 1460 (he played in the US National Open in Las Vegas in June 2008). |
| Neil S Homer |
ENG | (102) | |
| Mark Huba |
ENG | (90) | Born in 1945, Mark is a long-standing member of the King's Head club in West London. He is well-known as a chess photographer, working for 'Chess' magazine and many other publications. Ironically, I've not been able to find a single picture of him! |
| Sidney A Jones | ENG | (85) | Born in 1936, Sidney is a member of the Dorchester club in Dorset and has been a regular competitor in Guernsey, Jersey and Royal Beacon events. |
| Juan Carlos Travieso O'Bourke |
ESP | 1200 | Born in 1973, Juan Carlos is from Gran Canaria. |
| Marian Cox |
ENG | (74) | A member of Horsham CC. Marian made 2½/5 and 2/5 in the two 2008 Gibtelecom Amateur events. |
| Reginald Cox |
ENG | (61) | A member of Beckenham and Bromley CC and a regular visitor to the Jersey, Guernsey and Royal Beacon congresses. Reg made 1½/5 in the two 2008 Gibtelecom Amateur events. |
| Rania Sbai | MAR | - | |
| Yasmina Sbai | MAR | - | |
| Youssef Ennejjari |
MAR | - | Born 1978, Youssef is a member of the Rachad Bernoussi club of Casablanca, Morocco. He was due to play here in 2008 but in the end didn't appear. |
