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