A big battle for Division 5 dominance as Chandlers Ford D visited Basingstoke – and a big match anyway, played on 7 boards (4 match, 3 grading). Malcolm Clarke reports on that, plus Winchester C’s draw against the University; and a good tournament for Chandlers Ford player Keven Lamb (me! Thanks Malcolm!)

Chandlers Ford D team were beaten  2.5-1.5 by a Basingstoke team who are now strong favourites to win the Division 5 title.  Three extra games were played in this match which count for grading purposes only and theses were all won by the Basingstoke player.  In the match itself Nobby George was Chandlers Ford’s sole winner, while Rob Sims drew his game. 

Winchester C drew 2–2 with University C with their winners being Graham Payne and John Schonenberger on the top two boards.

At the Kidlington chess congress Chandlers Ford’s Keven Lamb won a grading prize as a result of obtaining three points out of five in the section for players graded under 120 and he won £20 having obtained 3 points out of 5.  Of Keven’s three victories at the event two were against higher graded opponents.  Marcus Harvey formerly of Southampton University won the Open section at this event.