2026 Ringwood Rapidplay Report and Results

Introduction

The 4th Ringwood Rapidplay took place on Sunday 22nd June, 2026.

There were three late withdrawals, leaving 52 players in total, with 27 in the Open section and 25 in the Intermediate (under 1800) section.

The tournament was played over 6 rounds with a time limit of 15 minutes + 10 seconds. There were free drinks all day and food was provided at a modest cost, with vegan options available.  Additionally this year, unplanned by us and unknown when we booked the venue late last year, there was paella on the lawn, provided by an outside company, which a few players took advantage of.

We would like to thank Schofields Landscapes and Gardens for their continued sponsorship of the event.

We would also like to thank The Regency Chess Company for their donation of a chess set which was raffled at the tournament, with each competitor getting a free ticket.  The set was won by Peter Wilcock, pictured.

On the day, the total prize fund was increased from the advertised £600 to £625.

Prize Winners

Open Section

The £100 first prize was won by Mike Duggan with 5/6.

There was a tie for second place between Finn Schell, Richi Smith and Allan Pleasants who all scored 4.5 and won £40 each.

The £30 Under 1950 rating prize was won by Colin Purdon

Milan Bennett (pictured below) and Niclas Hordnes (who was unable to stay for the prize giving) shared the Under 1850 and Under 1750 prizes, winning £30 each.

Intermediate Section (U1800)

There was also an outright winner in this section, Nicolas Leal, who scored a very impressive 5.5/6 and won the £100 first prize.

In second place was Peter Austin with 5/6, winning £70.

Michal Orszaluk was third on 4.5, winning £40.

The U1650 rating prize of £30 was won by Karla Venter on 4 points.

Asrith Manikandan won the Under 1500 prize of £30

Anish Iyengar (who could not stay for the prize giving) won the Under 1150 rating prize of £30 which was collected by his brother Akshay on his behalf.

Finally, the organisers awarded discretionary prize of £15 to Paul Errington who scored a creditable 3.5/6.

Thanks

We would like to thank all those who took part and we hope you may enter again next year.

We would also like to thank all those who helped organise and run the event, not least for the effort in keeping players fed and watered throughout the day:

  • Dan Page and Hugo Melling for their hard work managing the raffle and setting up and putting away tables, chairs and sets
  • And a special thanks goes to those who are not Ringwood Chess Club members: Bridget Clancy and Nikki Forster for their hard work in the kitchen, James Forster for helping clear up at the end, and Martin Simons for acting as chief arbiter.

Final Thoughts

There was some excellent fighting chess in the Open section, not least by the winner, Mike Duggan.  The Elephant Gambit even made a rare appearance when Mike played it in a critical game.

In the Intermediate section, Nicolas Leal appeared to have one major bump in the road against Graham Willetts but survived that and otherwise seemed to progress smoothly to his first place.  Very impressive for someone who is relatively new to competitive chess.

Special mentions must go to Reenen du Toit, an experienced and strong player who let's just say did not have his best day, and to Alicia Turner who was playing in her very first tournament.  To their credit they both battled on through every round.

We used the same rules regarding ratings as in previous years (if you have played 10 rated Rapid games in the last 2 years we use your Rapid rating).  This led to a few very strange looking ratings.   It turned out that this did not cause any great problems but we recognise that it had the potential to do so.  Accordingly, we will be revising the rules regarding ratings for next year's event.

We hope you all enjoyed the event and that we will see you again next year.

Martin Clancy and Peter Anderson

Open Results Table

Name Points
Duggan, Michael 5
Schell, Finn 4½
Smith, Richard 4½
Pleasants, Allan J 4½
Hordnes, Niclas 4
Bennett, Milan 4
Purdon, Colin 4
Gamage, Anuhas 3½
Melling, Hugo 3½
Bourne, Johnathan D 3½
Webb, Richard 3
Gregory, Keith * 3
Rahimli, Rashad 3
Richmond, Jane 3
Forster, James 3
O'Neill, Martin 3
Morrison, Joseph 2½
Trach, Thomas 2½
Ursell, Richard W 2½
Gorsuch, Samuel * 2
Torrance, John * 2
Ursell, Adam R 2
Deswarte, Ian 2
Wilcock, Peter 1½
Mathur, Billy * 1½
du Toit, Reenen J 1
Walker, Gary * ½

* Withdrew part way through.

Intermediate Results Table

Name Points
Leal, Nicolas 5½
Austin, Peter 5
Orszulak, Michal 4½
Halse, Robert 4
Venter, Karla 4
Manikandan, Asrith 4
Jackson, Paul A 3½
Agostinelli, David R 3½
Errington, Paul T 3½
Furnell, David 3
Willetts, Graham J * 3
Gerety, Jadan 3
Ursell, Dan 3
Pinto, Phil B 3
Cutter, Tim G 3
Hull, Matthew * 2½
Pollyn, Stephen M * 2½
Iyengar, Anish 2½
Lamb, Keven A 2½
Gosheron, Hugh 2
Moore, Gillian A 2
Taylor, Julian 2
Iyengar, Akshay 2
Turner, Alicia 1
Bartlett, Jasper * 1

* Withdrew part way through.