The teenager defeated the tournament favourite, Gawain Maroroa Jones, in the final round to secure victory by half a point
Freddy Waldhausen Gordon, a 15-year-old from George Heriot’s school, Edinburgh, came through with a stunning burst to capture the annual British Rapidplay championship in Peterborough with a score of 9.5/11, defeating the top seeded GM, Gawain Maroroa Jones, in the final round in a must-win game by a checkmating attack where White’s queen and both rooks all invaded Black’s rear rank.
Maroroa Jones was in trouble early in the decisive game, soon had to concede rook for knight, and a second loss of the exchange followed at move 32. At the end, 39 Rxg7+ and 40 Qg8 mate could only be delayed by Black giving up his queen.
It was the 37th staging of the British Rapidplay, whose fast time limit of all the moves in 15 minutes for each player, plus a 10 seconds increment per move, makes it possible to hold an entire 11-round tournament in a single weekend. More than 200 players competed. No Scot had ever won it previously. First prize was £1500. The Four Nations Chess League organisation on behalf of the English Chess Federation was excellent.
Final scores were Waldhausen Gordon (Scotland) 9.5/11, Jones and Shreyas Royal (England) 9, Yichen Han (Netherlands), 12-year-old Supratit Banerjee and Siva Mahadevan (India) 8.5. Eight players on 8 points included Trisha Kanyamarala (Ireland), Harriet Hunt (England), and 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan (England), who tied for the women’s title. All three women’s co-champions received £500.
