Malcolm Clarke summarises the teams’ performances in the 2018-19 season.

All four Chandlers Ford teams in the Southampton League have now completed their league programme and all have recorded more losses than victories, but apart from Chandlers Ford C who finished bottom of division 4 all achieved mid-table positions.

However looking at the results during the season excluding the Robertson Cup and the two matches between the B and C teams where the latter achieved their only win of the season then the record against teams from Ringwood, Salisbury and Southampton University for all teams reads P19 W0 D3 L16 and against all other clubs reads P18 W10 D5 L3 and the A team also lost to Ringwood in the Robertson Cup. 

With the league season now over attention now switches to the club’s  Summer Tournament and knockout competition both of which have 19 entries.

As the current Chandler’s Ford Chess Club Ladder tournament reaches its last week, its organiser, Nobby George, explains how the Ladder Champion will be determined – in his own inimitable style.

Hi Ladder People. The End is Nigh, The Tension is High, The Ladders’ been Good, Just like I knew It would, At the end of next Tuesdays’ Club Night , Looking down the Ladder from a great Height, will be the Top Three , the rest of us look up and what do we See, Its’ TWO PEEs and A DEE. 

Player at No.Two will play Player at No.Three. The Winner will Play Player at No.One, The winner of that will be the Ladder Champion for 2019/20.  The Loser will be sent Home.

The Rules for the play off will be the same as the Ladder Rules with the exception that colours will be decided at the time of the games between both players, (with the normal one of each colour pawns in closed Hands).

If a Game ends with a draw then a replay with a change of colours will occur.

Malcolm Clarke reports on Chandlers Ford B’s victory over draw specialists Southampton D on Tuesday 16th April.

Chandlers Ford B ended the season with a 3-1 win against draw specialists Southampton D who had previously drawn six of their nine league matches including two draws with Chandlers Ford C and one with Chandlers Ford B.

The first game to finish was the board 4 encounter between Chandlers Ford’s Simon Kay and Southampton captain Terry Hutchins which finished all square, although Kay looked at one stage to have the best chance of obtaining a full point for Chandlers Ford.  For Hutchins the draw was something of a relief as Kay was the fourth Chandlers Ford player he had played against this season and he had lost the previous three games.

At the time that Kay’s game finished Nobby George’s opponent on board 3 seemed to be putting him under a degree of pressure, Sam Murphy had lost a rook in exchange for a minor piece, while Dick Meredith on board 1 had a level position against a higher graded player.

However George was able to mount a counter attack which exploited his opponent’s exposed king and this won him the game.  Murphy did well to deal with his material deficit and he managed to obtained a draw.  This just left Meredith’s game and he won a pawn and once he reached a position with only kings and pawns left on the board it was clear he would win, although his opponent eventually lost on time.

Winchester B beat Andover B 4.5-0.5 which was only their second league win of the season, with both successes coming against bottom of the table Andover with Pankaj Tomar. Robin Atkins, David Kinsler and Michael White being their winners.

Division 4 champions Salisbury C beat bottom of division Chandlers Ford C. Malcolm Clarke reports on the match, plus Winchester D and A teams’ results.

Chandlers Ford C‘s 3.5-0.5 defeat at the hands of division 4 champions Salisbury C meant they finish bottom of the table, but in fairness to their conscientious captain Keven Lamb he used the match to give games to players relatively new to the club or those who have not played very often in the season.  This resulted in the husband and wife combination of Steve and Rose Saunders who the previous week had played on the lower boards for the D team being elevated to the top two boards and Oscar Barnes who had only previously played a match counting solely for grading purposes also being selected.

Although they all lost Oscar gained valuable experience, Steve lasted 47 moves against the experienced Amanda Jones, and in terms of time Rose’s game lasted longer than Steve’s.  However it was James Lesniak who got the sole half point and he continued his promising start with the club.  Lesniak’s was the last to finish and it generated a lot of interest from those present, with at the end both him and his opponent receiving spontaneous applause from an enthused audience.

For the second successive week Winchester D took three players to an away match and were whitewashed, this time losing to Salisbury D.

Winchester A were missing board 2 Jon Barnes, but were otherwise at full strength, but they lost 3.5-1.5 to a Basingstoke team still in the running for the division 2 championship.  For Winchester Mike White coming into the side on board 5 drew his game, while Lukasz Piecha won on board 2.

Malcolm Clarke reports on the D and A team matches in League and Robertson Plate, plus stalwart player John Kooner recently turned 70.

Chandlers Ford D finished their league season as they started with a win, although none of their other league games were won.  However they are likely to finish third in a five team division.  In their 3-1 at Fareham captain Steve Dunleavy was unavailable, which meant that Rob Strachan took over the captaincy for the match and wins from Nobby George, Simon Kay and Steve Saunders winning their games and Rose Saunders winning a game counting for grading purposes.

In the Robertson Plate Chandlers Ford A team replayed their semi final with Winchester, with Dick Meredith who captains the A team in cup games fielding the same four players in the original match which included a double default and Keven Lamb also came into the side.  However this time Winchester fielded a full strength A team and won the match 5-0 to earn a cup final away to Hamble.  Of the Chandlers Ford players against Winchester top board Graham Stuart held out the longest, but after a brave fight he eventually lost in a queen and pawn ending.

Winchester C were whitewashed by division 5 champions Ringwood C, while Chandlers Ford stalwart John Kooner who has played for the club in its’ different forms since the 1990’s recently celebrated his 70th birthday.