Suffolk Chess

70 games were played in the Open section of last year's Bury St Edmunds Congress.   For some reason we didn't receive the score sheets for one game, so the following statistics are based on 69 games.

In these games, White only played one of three first moves:
e4   -   33 (48%)
d4   -   31 (45%)
c4   -    5 (7%)

Breaking down each move, the following replies were made by Black:
After e4:
...c5   -   46%
...e5   -   15%
...e6   -   12%
...Nf6   -   9%
...d5   -   6%
...d6   -   6%
...c6   -   3%

After d4:
...Nf6   -   52%
...d5   -   32%
...f5   -   10%
...e6   -   3%
...d6   -   3%

After c4:
...c6   -   40%
...f5   -   20%
...Nf6   -   20%
...e5   -   20%

The most popular opening, by far, was the Sicilian, with 15 games starting 1. e4   c5 (22% of all games played).   There were 3 Closed Sicilians (2. Nc3), with the remainder being 2. Nf3.   As might be expected with such a popular opening, many variations were played, the most popular being 2...d6 (5 games), followed by 2... Nc6 (3 games).   No Morra Gambits, but perhaps we'll see some this year, following last year's publication of IM Esserman's acclaimed 'Mayhem in the Morra'.