The 2019 Knock-Out Tournament began in mid-April with three Preliminary pairings to enable Round 1 to begin with 16 players.

Round 1 began on 5th May and saw half the field of 16 eliminated.

Round 2 started on 9th June, with a target of 2nd July to see which 4 players go through to Round 3. The round 2 pairings are:

1)Manoj Chandar V Phil Overton

2)Mansa Chandar V Pete Przybycin

3)Rob Sims V Rob Bird

4) Don Creasey V John Kooner

The Knock-Out Tournament is one of three Club Tournaments held by the chess club. The League season may be over, but there is plenty going on at the club between-seasons in terms of the internal tournaments, as well as friendly chess games every Tuesday evening. We meet year-round.

The Final of the 2018-19 Ladder was played on 18th June 2019. Its organiser, Nobby George wrote the next day:

The previous Ladder came to its conclusion last night with the  Final game between Peter Przybycin and Phil Overton , and the game ending in a draw . The rules state that in the event of a draw there will be a Replay, but Phil conceded the Replay because he had been beaten in the Ladder earlier , so the Winner for this Year is Peter Przybycin.

The Southampton Chess League Annual General Meeting was held at Chandlers Ford on 13th June. Malcolm Clarke organised the Robertson Cup draw for next season, and reports below.

At the AGM of the Southampton Chess League the draw for next season’s Robertson Cup was made with Chandlers Ford being drawn to play away at Andover, while their B team will play away to Winchester. The composition of the divisions for next season has not been completely determined, but it is likely that the Chandlers Ford C team will be relegated to division 5 with all Chandlers Ford and Winchester teams remaining in the same divisions as last season.

The Southampton Chess League AGM will take place on Thursday 13 June 2019, 7.30pm start, at the Chandlers Ford Central Club (2 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 2FZ).

SCL website: http://www.sotonchessleague.org.uk/

Chess club members joined Steve, his family, and his many friends at his 60th birthday celebrations. Malcolm Clarke reports.

Steve Dunleavy a stalwart member of Chandlers Ford chess club recently celebrated his 60th birthday and several members of the chess club were amongst the sizeable contingent that attended his birthday party which was held at the Sarisbury social club.  For some chess players there was a bit of nostalgia attached to the venue as it was where Sarisbury chess club played their home matches in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

As well as being an enthusiastic captain of the Chandlers Ford D team Steve has also sponsored some chess events and is a well respected member of the Chandlers Ford chess club.

The first round of the Chandlers Ford summer tournament has now been completed and the draw for round 2 made.