Book Prize 2021 Tournament organiser Peter Przybycin reports on Round 2, and announces the Round 3 player pairings.
Round 2 Report
In the Minor section John Kooner beat Lee Mundy, Steve Saunders beat Ian Parker, and Maha Chandar beat Rose Saunders.
In the Major section Dick Meredith was unlucky to end up with a draw against me (Peter), after having much the better of it for most of our game.
As in round 1, the Minor section looks likely to finish this round early. The last remaining game is Rob Strachan v Nobby George , which is understandable as Rob is currently recovering from injury and unable to attend at club. The Major section has three more games to play.
Update: all Round 2 games now complete, including Rob Strachan’s against Nobby George.
Pairings for Book Prize Tournament Round 3 are as follows:
All games in round 3 to be completed by January 1st 2022.
Extra time has been added to allow for likely Christmas distractions and the loss of a club night due to Keith’s training event this Tuesday (23rd November).
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.
Kev Byard is a former member of our chess club who emigrated to New Zealand. He keeps in touch with current club members and participates in our club online tournaments. Kev Byard’s article, also published on the HCA website, relates to an old gem (a 1927 publication of an 1895 title!) that Kev purchased. It wasn’t only the book itself that fascinated him, but what he found within…
An Old Chess Book that I Bought
By Kev Byard
Who was the first person to be a British citizen and to have played in the final of the World Chess Championship? No, it was not our Nigel. However, our question is answered later.
First, though, let’s talk about me. I emigrated to New Zealand in 2004, after which I immediately gave up chess for reasons that are totally to do with the appalling state of chess clubs in Auckland and nothing to do with any waning interest in the game on my part. As a result I gave up the game. So, because I had been living in the chess wilderness for such a long time, the decision of Chandlers Ford Chess Club to move online was therefore a Godsend to me. And, following my first foray into competitive chess for seventeen years via the weekly online CFCC Arena and Swiss tournaments (I’m still shaking after my baptism of fire in my first ever game against Kev Lamb, whose style clashes completely with mine!), my interest has been thoroughly rekindled. [See previous Post about Kev Byard’s first Chandler’s Ford Online Tournament].
Indeed, immediately following my first such tournament on 19 November 2020, where I achieved a very proud third place and a much-treasured bronze cup, I ventured into the cold, dark, damp basement under my house to find my collection of chess books that had lain undisturbed for seventeen years in a large plastic box, in which also lies a signed non-chess autobiography by Brian Clough. I successfully retrieved all but one of my endgame books (the other is titled, ‘Tactical Chess Endings’ – the word ‘Tactical’ put me off!) and nothing else. However, after an online discussion about openings (Philidor’s Defence in particular) with djc202, john_zed, WillHeSac and KevLamb, I decided to have a further rummage and I found a few other books on the openings. It was during the retrieval of my four books on the Philidor Defence and my seven books on the Scandinavian Defence (which I didn’t open) that I stumbled on an absolute gem of a volume that I had long, long neglected. Now, I know most of us are guilty of not having read every book in our collections (my own copy of Staunton’s Chess Player’s Handbook remains virtually unopened) but I really should have made much more of an effort to delve into this particular 1927 publication.
An old Chess Book
Let’s look at my copy of Gunsberg’s book. Bearing in mind that the book is titled ‘The Chess Openings’ its 1927 content is fascinating. Each chapter provides a brief description (typically one page) of an opening, followed by columns of analysis, MCO-fashion. Each opening is afforded a number of such columns. The breakdown of the numbers of columns for each of the openings, and in order of appearance in the book, is as follows:
Opening
Number of columns
French Defence:
4 columns
Sicilian Defence (N.B. 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 – that’s all, no other 2nd moves for White!)
4 (only 4 columns– unbelievable when one considers the statistics below)
What’s most interesting, I think, about this list is the complete dominance of lines that include an f4 gambit by White over almost anything else, in particular the King’s Gambit. Indeed, there are 68 columns that include the f4 move (52 being directly the KGA or KGD) out of only 209 columns in total (33% of all columns). Also the entirety of the Queen Pawn openings is dealt with in only 16 columns (8%). The French and Sicilian are relegated to mere sidelines in Gunsberg’s push for a White f4 and these openings are given the same space (5 columns) as the Muzio Gambit on its own, would you believe?
The French Defence, admittedly being the first opening addressed in Gunsberg’s book, is described disparagingly in its first paragraph thus: “It seems almost superfluous to explain that the French Defence is resorted to by players who do not care to face the attack which may result from Black’s reply of P-K4.” I hope, Graham, you are hanging your head in shame! That said, those who wish to play 1.d4 are also not let off the hook by Gunsberg who says,”…[players playing 1.d4] of even mediocre talent are often enabled to make a display of strength against better players than themselves.” Now that IS disparagement!
Intriguing extras
However, while the book itself is an absolute treasure, the real gems were to be found in the extras that were between the pages of the book upon my opening it when I arrived home. Between the leaves of this volume I found two newspaper cuttings and, far more importantly, a recorded game from a previous owner of the book (did I mention that when I bought the book it was second-hand?) who failed to retrieve his (her?) score sheet. Absolute gold!
The first cutting is a game played between a Max Green and a Martin Green, maybe two brothers, and won by Martin as Black. A note scribbled on the cutting it is a date: 18/10/40, more likely the date of the game than the actual date of the cutting, which appears to be from the 50’s or 60’s. The game itself is an Alekhine’s defence, as indicated by the title, which was a win for Black (take note john_zed). According to Stockfish, White’s decisive error was 20.Rc2. Stockfish gives 20.Rfd1 as equal (0.0). After Black’s error of 20.Rc2 a6 Stockfish recommends 21.a4 (-5.0) since 22.Nd4 loses to 22…Rfd8. Pity the players didn’t have access to Stockfish in those days – or is it? Are we really better off these days having access to the correct move at our fingertips without the satisfaction of having to have worked for it? I tried to find out the date of this cutting so I looked at the reverse to find a list of football fixtures from the South Regional and North Regional leagues. This seems to predate the football league but a Google search of the games themselves (e.g. Arsenal v Northampton) didn’t uncover the date of the cutting, which makes me doubt the veracity of Google searches. Therefore there seem to be no clues as to the real date or origin/paper the cutting came from but this adds to its fascination. That said, if there are any football geeks out there, I’d like to see evidence of the date – note that Southampton played away to Watford.
An End-game study
Cutting of Ending Kev found within an old chess book
The second cutting is an endgame study, again probably from the same era as the first cutting of the game between the Greens. This is a pawn ending with White to play and win. It’s really complicated so put it into Stockfish and don’t let anyone tell you that pawn endings are easy! The reverse of this is just a few adverts so no clue as to its date, although if anyone has an Austin, a Fiat, a Ford, a Hillman, an MG, a Morris, or a Riley then go to 336 New Cross Road, London S.E.14 and you can get cash for it, otherwise there are no other clues. Again, any information as to the date of this piece would be gratefully received.
Hollings score-sheet
Hollings scoresheet Kev found in chess book
The third extra piece that I found is by far the best and is the stuff of chess dreams. It is a ‘Hollings Chess’ score-sheet from a game played on 20th February 1956 which was a Monday. The reverse of the score-sheet states that Hollings Chess was run by a Frank Hollings, Great Q. Street, Kingsway, London. I’ve never heard of Hollings. Has anyone else? Also, the reverse of the sheet advertises a number of books that can be purchased from Hollings, including ‘How to Play Chess Endings’ by Znosko-Borovsy. I actually have this book and would heartily recommend it, so if you are able to save up 12s 6d, the price listed for this book on the reverse of the score sheet, and send your postal order to 68 Great Queen St., Kingsway, London W.C.2 then you’ll be handsomely rewarded. Alternatively, telephone Holborn 8104. The game on the Hollings score-sheet itself is between a (Mr?) JWG and someone called Brown, which is a win for Brown as Black. After an Albin Counter Gambit, Black gradually builds up a slightly better position (Stockfish says -2.6 after 12… Rh3 but then White blunders with 13.Nd2 after which 13…Nxf3+ wins the white queen for a rook and knight and, soon after that the game, although Stockfish says that 13…Qd7 is just as good.
Yes, I know all these extras in a book, and their analyses, are irrelevant, superfluous and inconsequential, but to find such gems inside an already fascinating volume and be able to use modern technology to study them is highly interesting and great fun.
Has this ever happened when you buy a chess book? It has happened to me on other occasions and I’d be interested to hear of your experiences.
Book Prize 2021 Tournament organiser Peter Przybycin reports on Round 1, and announces the Round 2 player pairings. Plus: tournament results update so far.
Round 1 Report:
We now have a full complement of ten players in each section, thanks to Ian Parker stepping in. This gave Rose an opponent in round 1 of the Minor section. Unfortunately for Rose, Ian won the game!
I extend a warm tournament welcome to two new members; Lee Mundy and Eric Jones.
Lee had what appeared to be a mouse malfunction in his minor section game against Geoff Parish, losing his queen and therefore the game. Unfortunately this is one of the hazards of playing online chess. It’s happened before to other players, myself included, and is akin to inadvertently touching the wrong piece in over-the-board games.
Eric impressed by beating Sam Murphy in the major section. Well done.
All the other games went in favour of the higher graded player.
All games in round 1 are now completed.
In the past few days, Manoj Chandar drew with Dick Meredith, and Keith Gregory beat Rob Sims. Both games were played online.
ROUND 1 Results:
Minor section:
Maha Chandar 1, Steve Dunleavy 0
Geoff Parish 1, Lee Mundy 0
Nobby George 1, Steve Saunders 0
Rob Strachan 0, John Kooner 1
Ian Parker 1, Rose Saunders 0
Steve Dunleavy and Maha Chandar in the first round of the Book Prize Tournament 2021
Here are the pairings for round two of the second Book Prize Tournament:
Minor section:
Lee Mundy v John Kooner
Steve Saunders v Ian Parker
Rob Strachan v Nobby George
Maha Chandar v Rose Saunders
Steve Dunleavy v Geoff Parish
Major section:
Dick Meredith v Peter Przybycin
Keven Lamb v Keith Gregory
Mike Henbury v Graham Stuart
Sam Murphy v Rob Sims
Eric Jones v Manoj Chandar
All games in round 2 to be completed by 20th November.
I have added an extra week to allow for the fact that there won’t be an opportunity to play on the day of the Club AGM.
There is also an early result in round 2 of the Minor section: Geoff Parish beat Steve Dunleavy.
I was surprised to see that this was also played online, as there is plenty of time left before 20th November to play games over the board at our comfortable chess club. Don’t forget, online games will not be sent for grading.
Best wishes,
Peter.
Tournament latest – 7th November.
In the Minor section John Kooner beat Lee Mundy, Steve Saunders beat Ian Parker, and Maha Chandar beat Rose Saunders.
In the Major section Dick Meredith was unlucky to end up with a draw against me, after having much the better of it for most of our game.
As in round 1, the Minor section looks likely to finish this round early. The last remaining game is Nobby George v Rob Strachan, which is understandable as Rob is currently recovering from injury and unable to attend at club.
The Chandler’s Ford Chess Club will hold its Annual General Meeting tomorrow, Tuesday 26th October 2021. The AGM will be at the Club’s venue at the Central Club, at 7:30pm.
The Coronavirus pandemic meant there was not a 2020 AGM, but Chess Club Secretary Malcolm Clarke’s 2019 AGM Summary can be read here.
Agenda for the 2021 AGM
Apologies for absence
Minutes of last year’s AGM.
Matters arising
Officer reports eg Secretary, Treasurer
Election of Officers
Fees for 2021/22
Questions raised by Steve Dunleavy regarding ladder and history of club
Plans for season with regard to tournaments and Ladder
The new Book Prize Tournament 2021: bigger than the first Book Prize event in 2020, now with two Sections!
The 2020 Book Prize Tournament was contested in 11 Rounds, an all-play-all format with 12 players. Mike Henbury won the first Tournament.
The 2020 Book Prize
This year’s Book Prize Tournament keeps the all-play-all format, with the extra players due to its popularity (19 players!) being spread across two Sections, the Major, for players graded 1400 and over, and the Minor, for the players graded below 1400. Each Section has its own Book Prize.
Organiser Peter Przybycin announces the first Round of the new Tournament.
The Book Prize Tournament 2021
Hi All,
Entries for the second Book Prize Tournament are now closed, with one exception. At present Rose has a bye in the first round.
TOURNAMENT RULES:
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.
In the event of a tie for first place, the book prize will be awarded to whoever wins their individual game. If this is a draw, a tie break game will be necessary, colours reversed. If there is still a tie, then the player with the lower most recent grade will take the prize.
In the unlikely event of me winning the Major section, the book will go to the runner-up.
September 2021 round-up: Fareham Congress reminder; online tournament results; a new Book Prize Tournament – and 3 years of the website.
Castle Chess Fareham Congress 1-3 October
Castle Chess’s Fareham Congress Tournament is next weekend, and numbers are looking good, with 63 players entered so far. There is still time to enter, and the capacity of the event is 70.
The tournament (over the board games) will be at the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BQ.
The format of the Congress is a six-Round Swiss: round one on the Friday evening starts at 19:00, three rounds on the Saturday, and the last two games on the Sunday, with prize-giving by 17:30. Byes may be requested (except Round 6). The rate of play for the games is 36 moves in 90 minutes plus 15 minutes QPF (Quick Play Finish).
There are three sections:
Open: Under 2001 (=175 former ECF grade system),
Major: Under 1901 (=160),
Minor: under 1601 (=120).
The Congress costs £35 to enter, with a £7 discount for Juniors. There are also various accommodation packages – available through Castle Chess – if you would like to stay at the Lysses.
The hotel has a wide range of safety measures in place, especially cleaning. These will include the necessity of having to purchase drinks at the bar rather than the self-service Castle Chess normally provides. Castle Chess plan to run the event as a normal over the board weekend chess tournament. If that succeeds, the normal capacity of the venue is 70.
Online club tournaments
Currently two online tournaments run each week on lichess.org, but this is likely to reduce to one as we return to over-the-board chess in greater numbers. Both weekly events are rapid play games: the Arena currently at a straight ten minutes per game, whilst the 5-round swiss uses a short increment of 3 seconds per move on top of the basic 7 minutes per game.
In last Monday’s Chandler’s Ford Arena event, on 20th September, contested by 12 players, Keith Gregory won, with an impressive 100% win rate. Ian Partridge came 2nd and John Zastapilo 3rd. John now lives in Belgium, so the online format is ideal to keep in touch with old chess club friends. Thursday’s 5-round event on 23rd had only 7 players; John Zastapilo this time achieving top podium slot, with Sam Murphy 2nd and Patrick Pavey 3rd.
2021 Book Prize Tournament
Peter Przybycin, who ran last year’s Book Prize Tournament, has set up this year’s. It is bigger than last year’s, and the 19 players are in two all-play-all Sections. There is a Book prize for each Section. More details, including Round 1 player pairings, in a separate Post soon.
On the subject of chess books, another Post will feature club player Kev Byard’s article An Old Chess Book That I Bought: the 1927 print of an 1895 book, Gunsberg’s The Chess Openings. Kev Byard now lives in New Zealand, but joins us online for our lichess club tournaments and for the online chat with his old chess friends.
Website 3 years old!
And finally for this Post – the 216th published Post on this website- here’s to another year of chandlersfordchess.org.uk. The website’s 1st Post was on 26th September 2018: Chandler’s Ford Chess Club. Some other posts include:
Board 1 : Keith Nevols (Kent, left), Chris McSheehy (Hampshire, right).
The pre-season county matches
The chess match played over the board on Saturday 4th September was one of a series of pre-season County matches. This series is between 4 county teams: Hampshire, Essex, and 2 Kent teams (Haddrell and Steele). The teams are composed of 8 players whose English Chess Federation grades must average no more than 1600. This is a challenge for their captains when the English Chess Federation grades for the players can change monthly. Players must have up to date ECF membership.
Hampshire’s fixtures:
Sat 14th August, Essex v Hants at Wanstead House, Wanstead, 1.30pm start. Hants lost 7.5 – 0.5. See David Culliford’s match report.
Sat 3rd September, Hants v Kent Haddrell at the Warren Centre, Micheldever Station, 1.30pm start. Hants lost 5-3.
Sat 25th September, Kent Steele v Hants at St Anselms Church Hall, Dartford, 12.30pm start.
This was the second of three pre-season county chess matches, played over the board between Hampshire vs Kent Haddrell, one of two Kent teams in the pre-season 1600-average rating competition. Half of the Hampshire team were Chandler’s Ford Chess Club players. The club’s David Culliford stepped in at the last minute to be team captain. He gives a match report below.
The venue: the Warren Centre, Micheldever Station
This is a brief update on today’s county chess match, Hampshire versus Kent Haddrell, in the pre-season over-the-board 1600 average rating competition. The match took place at the Warren Centre, Micheldever Station.
Everything turned out fine with the venue, the kit, the players (except one default from Kent on board 6 – sorry about that, Manoj) and the weather, which was fine and pleasant.
I met the Warren Centre’s representative at 1pm and he showed me the venue layout, with which I was already familiar.
Earlier in the day, I managed to obtain some sets, boards, clocks and scoresheets from our club cupboard at Chandler’s Ford. Players from both teams helped set out the tables, chairs, sets, etc., and Andy from Kent kindly set the clocks for G105/15, as required, so there was no need to fall back on the ‘all moves in 2 hours’ option.
We started pretty much on time, just before 1:35pm, before which I gave the usual announcements, supplemented by some comments about the pandemic-related practicalities (e.g. masks to be worn, hand gel available, windows open to air the venue, etc.)
The Warren Centre, Micheldever, Hampshire County Chess match venue
Safe distance table layout at the Warren Centre for County match 4th September 2021
The Warren Centre and the safe-distancing of the layout for the Hampshire v Kent match
No issues arose throughout, except that Kent defaulted board 6 after one hour from the start of White’s clock.
Andy Dovey, Kent, and David Culliford, Hampshire (right) 4th September 2021. Kent captain David Gilbert at left of photo.
Defeat for Hampshire
I found the Kent captain, David Gilbert, to be very friendly and pleasant, and he has kindly logged the result on the ECF’s League Management System, so please refer to the following link for the full result, which was a 5-3 defeat for us.
The Hampshire side scored wins on Boards 6 (default) and 8, and drew on boards 2 and 4, but lost on the other boards. Result: loss, Hampshire 3 – 5 KentHaddrell.
Andrew Heard, Kent (left) v Alan Willis , Hampshire
All in all, it was a very pleasant day, and thanks to all the Kent and Hampshire players who played and who helped with the setup and the putting away of the tables and chairs afterwards.
Round 4 is now completed. Four of the games were played over-the-board on one club night evening, 17th August. Round 5 will be the last Round of this year’s tournament.
Graham Stuart (left) v Keven Lamb in Summer Tournament 2021 Round 4
Rob Sims (left) v David Culliford in Summer Tournament 2021 Round 4
Two over the board games in Round 4 of the Summer Tournament 2021
The 2021 Summer Tournament is one of two tournaments currently running in the Chandler’s Ford Chess Club (the Summer Tournament and the Knock-out Tournament). Round 4 of the Summer Tournament has now been completed, and event organiser Malcolm Clarke has announced the Summer Tournament 2021 Round 5 draw. See below for the Round 4 results in full, Round 5 Pairings list, and a quick recap of the rules.
Summer Tournament Round 4
White
v
Black
Peter Przybycin
0-1
Keith Gregory
David Culliford
0-1
Rob Sims
Keven Lamb
0-1
Graham Stuart
Mike Henbury
1-0
Sam Murphy
Dean Shaw
1-0
John Kooner
Rob Strachan
0-1
Patrick Pavey
Steve Dunleavy
1-0
Geoffrey Parish
Dick Meredith
0-1
Maha Chandar
Nobby George
1-0
Rose Saunders
Steve Saunders
0.5–
Bye
Summer Tournament 2021 Round 4
Full details of each Round’s results can be seen on the table on the Summer Tournament Page which will be updated as the tournament progresses.
The last Round includes a husband v wife match! Steve and Rose Saunders battle it out this round.
Rob Sims v Keith Gregory
Graham Stuart v Peter Przybycin
Maha Chandar v Keven Lamb
Geoffrey Parish v John Kooner
Rob Strachan v Nobby George
Steve Saunders v Rose Saunders
Patrick Pavey v David Culliford
Mike Henbury v Dean Shaw
Sam Murphy v Steve Dunleavy
Bye: Dick Meredith
Tournament Rules
The Summer Tournament is organised and run by Malcolm Clarke. The Summer Tournament is usually 5, but sometimes 6 Rounds over the summer months. Each Round is usually completed within a few weeks. The winner receives the Kooner Cup for a year and usually gets to keep a replica.
The Games are 90 minutes all moves per player.
When the Round Pairings are announced, the first-named plays as white.
Castle Chess have their Fareham Congress tournament (over the board games) on 1-3 October 2021. It will be at the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BQ.
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.
The Lysses House Hotel, Fareham, venue for Castle Chess and HCA Congresses
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, with prize-giving by 17:30. 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 £35 to enter, with a £7 discount for Juniors. There are also various accommodation packages – available through Castle Chess – if you would like to stay at the Lysses.
Rate of Play
The rate of play for the games is 36 moves in 90 minutes plus 15 minutes QPF (Quick Play Finish).
Covid: controls and contingencies
The hotel has a wide range of safety measures in place, especially cleaning. These will include the necessity of having to purchase drinks at the bar rather than the self-service Castle Chess normally provides
Castle Chess plan to run the event as a normal over the board weekend chess tournament. If that succeeds, the normal capacity of the venue is 70.
If covid restrictions tighten and limit the numbers (to a capacity of 24), the number of Sections may have to reduce to two, and the entry fee would have to be increased by £10 to cover fixed costs.
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
An over-the-board County Chess match – and Chandler’s Ford Chess Club Players formed half the team! David Culliford reports.
County chess match Essex v Hampshire 14 August 2021. Photo by Peter Nickals
Return to Over The Board County matches
After a near eighteen-month hiatus as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, over-the-board (OTB) county chess finally made its return in England. Just three county chess associations opted to participate in a pre-season county competition which was in effect ‘testing the waters’ prior to a return to the full annual county championship cycle later in the autumn.
One of these three English counties was Hampshire, electing to enter the ‘Minor’ competition which had the constraint of an average rating per team of 1600, using the Elo system only recently adopted by the English Chess Federation (ECF).
Chandler’s Ford provide half of County team
On Saturday 14th August, Hampshire travelled to Wanstead in Essex to play the first of just three matches in this competition. Chandler’s Ford Chess Club provided no less than four of the eight boards in the team line-up. David Culliford, Sam Murphy, Manoj Chandar and Maha Chandar volunteered to make the long journey to face Essex.
Shortly after driving away from our club’s home venue, the CF Central Club and Institute, we received news that our top board (Daniel Shek) had tested positive for coronavirus that same morning. When we arrived at Wanstead, the Essex captain generously agreed to the default being taken on the top board on which Daniel would have played, rather than insisting on us defaulting the bottom board.
Excellent venue
We found Wanstead House to be an excellent venue, and fully compliant with all the precautions stipulated in the ECF’s carefully thought-out policy on OTB chess post-pandemic. The weather was especially kind to us, being neither too hot nor too cold and with a gentle breeze keeping the playing room well aired throughout the four-hour playing session. The rate of play was G105/15, which means 1 hour 45 minutes fixed time plus a 15-second increment with every move made.
The playing room benefitted from a live display screen hooked up to the League Management System (LMS) website which the ECF use for registering results. This meant that the home captain, Peter Nickals, could enter live results in real time, with the full match result being posted at a quarter past five when the final game finished.
The match: Essex vs Hampshire
The result was a 7.5 – 0.5loss for Hampshire, with Alan Willis registering our only result with a draw on board 4. While this near-whitewash in an average rating constrained match may seem to be a less than spectacular effort by the away team, there were a couple of significant mitigating factors. Firstly, the default meant we were one down before starting, and secondly, Essex benefitted from having an excellent crop of juniors who made up the bulk of the team. Many of these juniors had rapidly enhanced their chess abilities with online play during the pandemic, but the OTB-based grades have yet to catch up. All the Hampshire players played out hard fought games but Essex were simply better.
Match highlights
Notable highlights (apart from Alan’s draw, of course) included Philip Ware’s patient middlegame play; Manoj Chandar’s kingside attack; Maha Chandar’s handling of a difficult queens-on endgame, and captain Amanda Jones’ heroic efforts in a game which she dominated right up until just before the end. A personal lowlight was my own handling of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, losing a piece but nearly recovering the deficit with some energetic tactical play. No cigar for me though!
Amanda was our match day captain and I was her deputy, as our regular captain, Ashraf Syed, was unavailable to travel. The only reason that I as deputy am writing the report is that Amanda was practically glued to her board while engaged in some intense play for pretty much the duration of her near four-hour game and therefore unable to peruse the other boards as much as perhaps she would have liked.
Well done to all who travelled to Essex, and hopefully the Hampshire Minor 1600 team can register a significant improvement in our next match against one of the Kent teams on Saturday 4th September.
