Castle Chess have their Fareham Congress tournament (over the board games) on 18-20 March 2022. It will be at the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BQ. In this article, details of the tournament, plus poetic praise for the previous Castle Chess Fareham Congress from Gillian Moore.

At the time of publishing this Post, there were 75 entrants to the Congress, a huge level of interest.

Castle Chess have run a number of Congresses (tournaments) over recent years at this pleasant venue. Until the Pandemic, they hosted two Congresses per year at the Lysses, one earlier in the year, one in the Autumn. They return to this schedule, with the Autumn congress being set as 7-9th October 2022.

Tournament format

The format of the Congress is a six-Round Swiss: round one on the Friday evening, three rounds on the Saturday, and the last two games on the Sunday. Byes may be requested (except Round 6).

There are three sections:

• Open: Under 2001 (=175 former ECF grade system),
• Major: Under 1901 (=160),
• Minor: under 1601 (=120).

The Congress costs £40 to enter, with a £7 discount for Juniors. Non-ECF members will need to pay £9 extra. There are also various accommodation packages – available through Castle Chess – if you would like to stay at the Lysses.

Tea and coffee will be provided for a donation.

Results of all games will be be sent to the ECF for Grading.

There will not be a Prize-giving ceremony as prizes will be sent via bank transfer, as was swiftly and successfully done in the the October 2021 event.

Rate of Play

The rate of play for the games is 75 minutes plus 30 seconds per move (about 3 and a half hours). All moves must be recorded throughout the game.

Photos of the October 2021 Fareham Congress

Covid

Castle Chess plan to run the event as a normal over the board weekend chess tournament.

Further information

EVENT ENQUIRIES:
Tony Corfe, 51 Borough Way, Potters Bar, Herts. EN6 3HA
Tel: 01707 661160 Mob: 07973 516718
email: tony@mrcorfe.co.uk or marc.shaw.chess@gmail.com
or Marc Shaw 07947 813303

See the Castle Chess website’s Fareham Congress page: CastleChess.co.uk – 18 Fareham Congress

Poem: In Praise of Chess, by Gillian Moore

CASTLE CHESS CONGRESS
FAREHAM.
Return to over the board games
The congresses over the board
Are something I have missed,
And entering this one at Fareham
I could not resist.
Several times before, I’ve stayed
At the Lysses House Hotel,
Competing in the Castle Chess
At this hotel as well.
I’m coming back, and I am like
A puppy with two tails,
Which wags each time that I recall
The pleasure it entails.
For I am very overdue
For formal rated play,
But with a congress that is planned,
I’m heading soon that way

Links

Castle Chess website

Castle Chess Fareham Congress 18-20 March 2022 Page

Venue: Lyssses House Hotel, Fareham

English Chess Federation

Gillian Moore’s poetry on Hampshire Chess Association website

The C team hosted Basingstoke C in the League last week. Both teams at double-strength for numbers of players – an 8-board super-match!

The fixture was in the Southampton Chess League’s Division 5, a home fixture for our C team, on 1st March 2022.

Extra Games

Chandler’s Ford C Team captain Steve Dunleavy arranged with his Basingstoke counterpart David Graham to have additional players participate, continuing a feature of the League’s Divisions 4 and 5 before the pandemic, in which teams could field extra players for grading purposes in the English Chess Federation.

The extra games gave both teams the opportunity to give as many players as possible graded games in match conditions – and against players from a club other than their own.

The Basingstoke C team had several junior players, and their parents brought them and were there to support them. Not that the youngsters needed much support, being very good players.

It was great to see such a big attendance at the club: the 8 players from each team, plus the visitors’ families, plus more Chandler’s Ford Chess club players playing their various club tournament games. The double-sized match was the largest such event since before the pandemic, when Chandler’s Ford C and D teams played an 8-board match in January 2020.

Match result 2-2

The match was well-contested and ended with a 2-2 draw – for the match boards 1-4. The extra games played for grading and match experience saw the Basingstoke visitors win all the remaining games on boards 5-8.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. See below for details of the individual results.

Board	Home Team C. Ford C	Result	Away Team Basingstoke C
1	Keven Lamb	0-1	Liam Durangparang
2	John Kooner	0-1	Harry Smith
3	Peter Eales	1-0	Edward Yang
4	Nobby George	1-0	Ojas Dhall
		2-2

Extra boards for grading and match experience

Board	Home Team C. Ford C	Result	Away Team Basingstoke C
5	Steve Saunders	0-1	Shams Dilly
6	Rose Saunders	0-1	Adam Matthews
7	Lee Mundy	0-1	Saksham Rana
8	John Pellegrini	0-1	David Graham

Links

Southampton Chess League

SCL Division 5 match result report card

English Chess Federation

When C and D teams played their 8-board super-match

The player pairings for the Book Prize Tournament 2021-2 Round 6 are announced. Tournament organiser Peter Przybycin gives an update from Round 5 and the scores so far, and announces the Round 6 pairings.

Round 5 update

Hi All,

There is just one result to report from the fifth round this week, but it is a significant one. Steve Saunders beat John Kooner in the minor section. This means that John has dropped his first point in the tournament, and now there are just two players unbeaten on five points; Maha Chandar and Nobby George. John has a chance to fight back however, as he has still to play either Maha or Nobby in the tournament. In fact, he is paired against Nobby in round six!

Current scores:

Minor Section:

• Nobby George 5/5
• Maha Chandar 5/5
• John Kooner 4/5
• Steve Saunders 3/5
• Rob Strachan 2/4
• Geoff Parish 2/5
• Ian Parker 1.5/4
• Lee Mundy 1.5/5
• Steve Dunleavy 0/5
• Rose Saunders 0/5

Major section:

• Keith Gregory 5/5
• Graham Stuart 3.5/4
• Eric Jones 2.5/3
• Sam Murphy 2/5
• Manoj Chandar 2/5
• Rob Sims 2/5
• Peter Przybycin 1.5/4
• Mike Henbury 1.5/4
• Keven Lamb 1/4
• Dick Meredith 1/5

Book Prize Round 6 Pairings

Minor:

• Rob Strachan v Rose Saunders
• Steve Saunders v Lee Mundy
• Steve Dunleavy v Ian Parker
• Geoff Parish v Maha Chandar
• John Kooner v Nobby George

Major:

• Mike Henbury v Rob Sims
• Keven Lamb v Dick Meredith
• Eric Jones v Keith Gregory
• Manoj Chandar v Sam Murphy
• Peter Przybycin v Graham Stuart

All games in round 6 to be completed if possible by March 26th 2022.

All the best,

Peter.

Rules Reminder

(for full list see the Tournament’s Page) :

• Rate of play – 90 minutes each for the whole game.
• The first named player has the white pieces.
• Games will (preferably) be played over-the-board at chess club, or at the home of the player with the white pieces. Score sheets and clocks should be used.
• Games may alternatively be played online, using Lichess, by mutual consent. Score sheets are not needed for online games.
• Online games will not be sent for grading.

Links

Husband and wife chess players Rose and Steve Saunders have played 2000 chess games together since joining online chess game provider lichess.org! And that’s just the online games they’ve played against each other!

Rose and Steve Saunders are keen chess players, both online and over-the-board, and they play for Chandler’s Ford Chess Club in the Southampton Chess League.

Online Chess

Why play online against each other when they can play on a board with pieces? During the Covid pandemic the Chandler’s Ford Chess Club, like all such clubs, could not meet in person. Our club’s solution was to set up an online, virtual Chandler’s Ford Chess Club on one of the chess game websites. We considered chess.com and lichess.org, and went for the latter: Graham Stuart set up our “Club” on lichess.org.

Keen chess player couple

Steve and Rose Saunders quickly joined lichess.org in April 2020 and have been keen online players ever since. They have played against each other in the club’s online versions of its long-play tournament games, plus the regular online rapid-play tournaments. From time to time they would be paired against each other in the various tournaments. They also play many games against each other online outside of the tournaments, and over the board. These online games against each other give them practice at the various time controls and settings, plus their games are graded on the gaming platform, a useful measure of their playing strength. Incidentally, Rose and Steve’s lichess ratings are almost identical:

Steve and Rose are members of other clubs on lichess in addition to Chandler’s Ford, and Rose is a member of the England-women lichess team. Steve has played over 3,000 games on lichess since joining, and Rose has played over 3900 online games! Games can be played in the ‘clubs’ or as individual challenges.

2000 Games against each other

Steve, ever the gentleman, told me today not to be misled by those scores: “Before lockdown Rose had won far more games than me over a number of years on the board“.

It seems that a shared interest in chess is a recipe for a successful marriage!

Links

Lichess.org

Chess.com

England-Women: lichess club, see also our Article England Womens Chess Team and Rose Saunders’ thoughts on playing in the match against Libya.

Three Chandler’s Ford players participated in the 18-board County match on 5th February away against Berkshire. Hampshire beat Berkshire 5.5 – 12.5 in the Chiltern League match.

The match was away at the Victory Hall, Church Road, Farley Hill. It was played over 18 boards. Hampshire won convincingly: Berks 5.5 – 12.5 Hants. Hampshire had 9 wins, and there were 7 draws, and lost only 2 of the games.

The Chiltern League 2021-22 comprises teams from Hampshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire. Hampshire’s captain is Fraser Mcleod; see his match report on Hampshire Chess Association’s website.

Chandler’s Ford players scored a win (Graham Stuart), and 2 draws (David Culliford and Keven Lamb).

For full score details see the Chiltern League website View Result (oxfordfusion.com).

Links

Chiltern League results table

Hampshire Chess website

In Praise Of Chess by Hampshire County player Gillian Moore on the Hampshire Chess Association website. One of three Books Gillian has written, this online book of chess-themed poetry was written during the Pandemic. All 3 are available to read online or download at no cost via the HCA website.

The Book Prize Tournament 2021-2 Round 5 starts. Tournament organiser Peter Przybycin announces the pairings and gives the scores so far.

Round 4 update

Hi All,

There are three results to report from the fourth round this week.

Rob Sims was very pleased to score his first point in the Major section. Unfortunately, he chose to do it against me!

Also in the Major section, Sam Murphy beat Dick Meredith.

Nobby George beat Steve Dunleavy in the minor section, thus joining John Kooner and Maha Chandar on four points from four games.

Peter Przybycin

Current scores:

Minor Section:

• John Kooner 4/4
• Nobby George 4/4
• Maha Chandar 4/4
• Geoff Parish 2/4
• Steve Saunders 2/4
• Ian Parker 1/2
• Rob Strachan 1/3
• Lee Mundy 0/3
• Rose Saunders 0/4
• Steve Dunleavy 0/4

Major section:

• Keith Gregory 4/4
• Graham Stuart 2.5/3
• Eric Jones 2.5/3
• Manoj Chandar 2/4
• Sam Murphy 2/4
• Peter Przybycin 1.5/4
• Mike Henbury 1.5/4
• Keven Lamb 1/4
• Dick Meredith 1/4
• Rob Sims 1/4

Pairings for Book Prize Tournament Round 5

Minor:

• Lee Mundy v Rose Saunders
• Steve Saunders v John Kooner
• Steve Dunleavy v Rob Strachan
• Nobby George v Geoff Parish
• Ian Parker v Maha Chandar

Major:

• Dick Meredith v Rob Sims
• Keven Lamb v Peter Przybycin
• Graham Stuart v Manoj Chandar
• Keith Gregory v Sam Murphy
• Eric Jones v Mike Henbury

All games in round 5 to be completed by February 26th 2022.

Rules Reminder

(for full list see the Tournament’s Page) :

• Rate of play – 90 minutes each for the whole game.
• The first named player has the white pieces.
• Games will (preferably) be played over-the-board at chess club, or at the home of the player with the white pieces. Score sheets and clocks should be used.
• Games may alternatively be played online, using Lichess, by mutual consent. Score sheets are not needed for online games.
• Online games will not be sent for grading.

Links

A reminder to renew our membership subscriptions for 2022 for our venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. Central Club Membership Renewals subscriptions run January to December each year. Renewals at the rates shown below are available from 4th January to 31st January. Any Membership renewals after then will be subject to a Late Renewals Fee of £5.

To renew your Membership, see the Central Club’s website Subscriptions Page 2022 which gives details on how to pay online – their preferred method, although other ways are available.

Chandler’s Ford Central Club Membership Renewals 2022

See the Subscriptions 2022 Page of the Central Club website, and the table below. Membership fees are an important part of the Central Club’s income.

The cost of renewal will be:

MEMBER	Without Pass Card *	With Pass Card *
MALE/FEMALE	£20.00	£23.50
OAP	£ 8.50	£12.00
LIFE	Not available	£ 3.50

* Note: Pass card enables entry to all other Club and Institute Union (CIU)

Fees can now be paid electronically to the venue’s Bank Account – see Website Chandler’s Ford Central Club for account details.

When sending the money please ensure you put your Member Number which can be seen on your Yellow Membership Card and Surname into the Payment Reference, to enable the details to be matched on the system to enable 2021 Cards to be available when the Club opens.

If you want a CIU Pass card, please remember to add £3.50 for each Card. All Membership Cards will be prepared and will then be available for collection (can be collected from the Main Bar).

New Membership at the Central Club

If you haven’t joined the Chandler’s Ford Central Club yet, and would like to, please see their website’s ‘Join Us’ Page. There you will find a link to the Application Form. This is completed by you, plus Proposer and Seconder. Two passport photos, the form, and the fee should then be passed to the Club Secretary during normal Club hours (see the Club’s Home page for details).

Annual subscriptions for the venue is one of three financial costs if you want to fully engage with playing chess and the chess club, the other two outlays being annual subs to the Chess Club itself, and the other, annual membership of the English Chess Federation – so that you can participate in ECF-graded League matches and chess tournaments. See our What does it cost Page.

The 2022 League Season starts – with a win for Chandler’s Ford. Match captain Rob Sims reports on Chandler’s Ford Chess Club’s first fixture of the new 2022 short season. Photo by Hanna Dunleavy.

MATCH REPORT

Tuesday 18th January 2022 saw the return of over the board Southampton Chess League games when the first match of this 3 month season took place at Chandler’s Ford Central Club as the Chandler’s Ford B team took on Andover B.  It felt really good to get back to league chess again following a gap of nearly 2 years due to the Covid19 pandemic. The Chandler’s Ford team consisted of Sam Murphy, Dick Meredith, Keven Lamb and Nobby George on boards 1-4 respectively.  Starting a little after 7.30 to allow a pre match photo of the 8 players, the club room returned to a hushed silence level last heard in March 2020!

Nobby was the first to finish with a win against Andrew Dinkele, followed by Keven who astounded his opponent Graham Payne with a sudden win against the run of play. This put Chandlers Ford 2-0 up with the two top boards still to finish. Tension mounted when Sam resigned against his ungraded but strong opponent Steve Jones, so with the score at 2-1 in our favour it came down to a close tussle between Dick Meredith for Chandler’s Ford and Gavin Stonham for Andover. Dick had two bishops against knight and bishop with 5 pawns a piece. This very close match played on for at least an hour after the other 3 games had been completed and it did not finish until 10.25pm when a draw was offered and accepted, giving Chandler’s Ford a 2.5-1.5  win propelling them to the top of Division 4 after one match.

Match individual results

Chandler’s Ford B		Andover B
Sam Murphy	0-1	Steven Jones
Dick Meredith	0.5-0.5	Gavin Stonham
Keven Lamb	1-0	Graham Payne
Nobby George	1-0	Andrew Dinkele
–score–	2.5-1.5

The Andover B match captain is Kevin Steele. Kevin kindly submitted the results to the Southampton Chess League Website. See his Scorecard and kind comments on the SCL Website. Andover B are a friendly team and it was a pleasure to host them.

It was a great evening, with Southampton Chess League match play returning for our club, and the chess club was very well attended too, with several new players coming along.

The Chandler’s Ford B team’s next match is on Thursday 3rd February, away against Southampton University B.

Links

The Book Prize Tournament 2021 Round 4 begins. Tournament organiser Peter Przybycin announces the pairings and gives the scores so far.

Pairings for Book Prize Tournament Round 4 are as follows:

Minor:

• John Kooner v Rose Saunders
• Steve Saunders v Geoff Parish
• Nobby George v Steve Dunleavy
• Ian Parker v Rob Strachan
• Lee Mundy v Maha Chandar

Major:

• Peter Przybycin v Rob Sims
• Keven Lamb v Manoj Chandar
• Graham Stuart v Eric Jones
• Keith Gregory v Mike Henbury
• Dick Meredith v Sam Murphy

All games in round 4 to be completed by January 29th 2022.

Current scores:

Major section:

• Keith Gregory 3
• Graham Stuart 2.5
• Eric Jones 2.5
• Peter Przybycin 1.5
• Manoj Chandar 1 (from 2)
• Keven Lamb 1
• Dick Meredith 1
• Sam Murphy 1
• Mike Henbury 0.5 (from 2)
• Rob Sims 0

Minor Section:

• John Kooner 3
• Nobby George 3
• Maha Chandar 2 (from2)
• Geoff Parish 2
• Ian Parker 1 (from 2)
• Steve Saunders 1 (from 2)
• Rob Strachan 1
• Lee Mundy 0 (from 2)
• Rose Saunders 0
• Steve Dunleavy 0

All the best,

Peter.

Rules Reminder

(for full list see the Tournament’s Page) :

• Rate of play – 90 minutes each for the whole game.
• The first named player has the white pieces.
• Games will (preferably) be played over-the-board at chess club, or at the home of the player with the white pieces. Score sheets and clocks should be used.
• Games may alternatively be played online, using Lichess, by mutual consent. Score sheets are not needed for online games.
• Online games will not be sent for grading.

Links

The New Southampton Chess League Season starts this month! Chandler’s Ford B have their first match on Tuesday 18th January 2022. In this article we look back at the Southampton Chess League EGM which discussed the format for the forthcoming semi-season – and look forward as the League Fixtures are announced.

League EGM

The Southampton Chess League met for its Extraordinary General Meeting at our Club’s venue in Chandler’s Ford on Wednesday 13th October 2021.

Fixtures Secretary Malcolm Clarke Awarded for long service by League and Chess Club

Chandler’s Ford’s Malcolm Clarke received recognition for his long service to the Southampton Chess League as its Fixtures Secretary and as Club Secretary of Chandler’s Ford (previously Eastleigh). He has served 31 years as a principal member of the Southampton League. Malcolm Clarke was awarded a special Trophy and engraved Tankard from the League and Chandler’s Ford Chess Club. The video and pictures below capture Malcolm’s delight at the Awards.

Click on any of the photos in the gallery below for full picture, and scroll from there.

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New Season 2021-22

Following the EGM the League consulted with the chess clubs as to what form the 2021-22 season would take, given the effects of Covid. Three format options were proposed:

• Option 1 – League format with 3 divisions of 6 teams, 5 matches playing each team once only
• Option 2 – League format with 5 divisions of 4 teams, 6 matches playing each team home and away
• Option 3 – Team Swiss format with 5 or 6 rounds, each match to be played within a 3-week period. Either all teams together in one Swiss or, to avoid mismatches, there could be a Swiss A and a Swiss B

In all cases, teams have 4 players only as agreed at the EGM.

The consultation process has now crystallised into the League format of Option 2. The League has a 5-Division structure.

Club Fixtures 2022

We now have the dates for the Chandler’s Ford fixtures. See the fixture table below.

Southampton Chess League Fixtures for Chandler’s Ford Chess Club

Day	Date	Home Team	Away Team	Division
Tuesday	18 January 2022	Chandlers Ford B	Andover B	4
Tuesday	25 January 2022	Chandlers Ford A	Salisbury B	3
Tuesday	01 February 2022	Chandlers Ford C	Winchester C	5
Thursday	03 February 2022	University B	Chandlers Ford B	4
Wednesday	09 February 2022	Basingstoke C	Chandlers Ford C	5
Wednesday	16 February 2022	Basingstoke A	Chandlers Ford A	3
Tuesday	22 February 2022	Chandlers Ford A	Winchester B	3
Tuesday	01 March 2022	Chandlers Ford C	Basingstoke C	5
Tuesday	08 March 2022	Chandlers Ford A	Basingstoke A	3
Wednesday	09 March 2022	Winchester C	Chandlers Ford C	5
Tuesday	22 March 2022	Chandlers Ford B	Fareham B	4
Wednesday	23 March 2022	Winchester B	Chandlers Ford A	3
Thursday	24 March 2022	Salisbury C	Chandlers Ford C	5
Thursday	07 April 2022	Salisbury B	Chandlers Ford A	3
Wednesday	20 April 2022	Basingstoke B	Chandlers Ford B	4
Tuesday	26 April 2022	Chandlers Ford C	Salisbury C	5

Chandler’s Ford Team Captains

• Chandler’s Ford A Team: Malcolm Clarke
• Chandler’s Ford B Team: Rob Sims
• Chandler’s Ford C Team: Steve Dunleavy