Congratulations and well played to the 2023 English and English Women's Chess Champions - GM Mickey Adams and WGM Katarzyna Toma!

The English Championships and English Women's Championship took place between May 26 and May 29, 2023, at the Holiday Inn Kenilworth-Warwick. Both competitions were 7-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control.

Michael Adams confirmed his status as the rating favourite and won the title in the open event, although,  it was not a walk in the park for him. Coming into the final round on 5.5/6 a full point ahead of IM Jonah Willow, IM Marcus Havey, GM Peter Wells, IM Matthew Wadsworth and Peter Finn, he needed just a draw to seal the deal.

However, his last-round opponent Jonah Willow was in a feisty mood and made the leader work hard. After the opponents traded several mistakes in a complicated middlegame Willow achieved a winning position but missed the decisive move, and this exciting battle ended in a draw by perpetual.

Jonah played 34.Rc4 and let Michael off the hook – 34…Qxe5 35.Qxf7+ Kh6 36.Rh4 Kg5 37.Rg4 Kh6 with a draw, whereas after 34.Nxf7! Qf5+ (all other continuations are even worse) 35.Qxf5 gxf5 36. Nxd6 White's central pawns are unstoppable.

Meanwhile, Havey and Wadsworth scored victories and tied for second place, with the former claiming silver thanks to a slightly better Buchholz.

Final standings

Complete results

The women's event was also a close race that came down to the wire. Neither player completed the competition unbeaten.

Again, the top seed WGM Katarzyna Toma did not disappoint as she came out on top with 5.5/7 after scoring a crucial final-round victory over the leader, WCM Zoe Varney, who was a half-point ahead.

Zoe Varney, WFM Audrey Kueh and Kamila Hryshchenko shared second place, with Varney and Kueh taking silver and bronze, respectively, by dint of a superior Buchholz.

Final standings

Complete results

Photo: English Chess Federation Facebook