A reminder to renew our membership subscriptions for 2023 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 1st January to 31st January online, and 10th January to 31st January at the Club. 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 2023 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 Page 2023 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 Subscriptions Page 2023 for account details.

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

If you want a CIU Pass card, please remember to add £3.50.

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 Central 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.

Chandler’s Ford’s Iwan Cave became Hampshire’s youngest ever chess champion as he won the Silver Rook in the Hampshire Chess Association Congress (tournament) at Fareham in November.

Malcolm Clarke reports, with further reporting from Graham Stuart, and photos from Keven Lamb.

Iwan Cave Hampshire Champion

Iwan Cave a 15-year student from Romsey school has become the youngest ever winner of the Hampshire Individual chess championship, a prestigious tournament that has been running since 1930.

See Graham Stuart’s Hampshire Chess History website list of all the HCA Individual Championship winners: HCA Champions

He won the tournament as a result of being the top placed Hampshire player and he played in six rounds over the weekend of 4th-6th November all of 4 hours duration in which he won 3, drew 2 and lost 1 in a good quality field, having the week prior to the event attended a whole week of school, and on the Tuesday evening won his individual game on top board in helping his club record a 4-1 victory.

Romsey school is not a school where chess is a major extra-curricular activity and there has not been a chess club in the town since the 1970’s.  However, Iwan’s game has come on leaps and bounds since joining Chandlers Ford chess club, where he started winning prizes in junior tournaments.  Last season he competed in senior competition for the first time and his made rapid progress during that time culminating in his most recent and most meritorious success.

His parents also deserve credit for transporting him to and from chess events.

– Malcolm Clarke

Iwan Cave and the Silver Rook: photos

Further Success for Iwan

Iwan was one of 12 young players who qualified for the Under 18 Terafinal . This year it was held at Blenheim Palace on 15th and 16th October. 60 players across five age categories took part (12 in the U18).

Iwan won the U18 Hampshire Junior Open Congress 27th November with an awesome 6 out of 6. The rapid-play tournament had 27 entries in the U18. It included some of the top Portsmouth and Dorset Juniors as well.

2022 a good year for Hampshire Junior Chess

It has been a good year for Hampshire Junior Chess with Harry Grieve from the North of the county becoming at 21 the youngest ever British champion.  Harry a few years ago regularly played and assisted with the megafinal of the Delancey UK Chess Challenge which was often held in Winchester and where his mother Amy coordinated the event.

Season’s greetings from Chandler’s Ford Chess Club. Merry Christmas everyone!

The Book Prize Tournament 2022-2023 Round 3. The results so far, and the player pairings for Round 3.

Book Prize Tournament 2022-2023 Round 3 pairings:

Premier Section

• Iwan Cave v Pablo Vidal
• Keith Gregory v Rob Sims
• Cary Xie v Graham Stuart
• Peter Przybycin v Sam Murphy
• Sam Murphy v Graham Stuart (still to play from round 2)

Major Section

• Andrew Mills v Patrick Pavey
• Nobby George v John Pellegrini
• John Kooner v Richard Meredith
• Keven Lamb v Peter Eales
• John Kooner v Nobby George (still to play from round 2)

Minor Section

• Alan Weaver v John Davis
• Steve Dunleavy v Daniel Phillips
• Ian Parker v Steve Saunders
• Lee Mundy v Rob Strachan
• Rose Saunders v Geoff Parish
• John Davis v Daniel Phillips (still to play from round 1)

All the above games should be played by 1^st February 2023, please. This is double the normal duration to allow for the festive season, and to help players with outstanding games to catch up.

Results so far:

Premier section

Round 1:

• Iwan Cave 1 Sam Murphy 0
• Rob Sims 0 Graham Stuart 1
• Cary Xie ½ Peter Przybycin ½
• Pablo Vidal 0 Keith Gregory 1

Round 2:

• Rob Sims 0 Iwan Cave 1
• Cary Xie 0 Keith Gregory 1
• Peter Przybycin ½ Pablo Vidal ½

Major section

Round 1:

• John Kooner 0 Keven Lamb 1
• Andrew Mills ½ Peter Eales ½
• Patrick Pavey 0 Nobby George 1
• John Pellegrini 0 Richard Meredith 1

Round 2:

• John Pellegrini 0 Andrew Mills 1
• Peter Eales 1 Richard Meredith 0
• Keven Lamb 1 Patrick Pavey 0

Minor section

Round 1:

• Alan Weaver 0 Rose Saunders 1
• Lee Mundy 1 Ian Parker 0
• Rob Strachan 1 Geoff Parish 0
• Steve Dunleavy 0 Steve Saunders 1

Round 2:

• Steve Dunleavy ½ Alan Weaver ½
• Geoff Parish 1 Ian Parker 0
• Lee Mundy 1 John Davis 0
• Daniel Phillips 0 Rose Saunders 1
• Steve Saunders 0 Rob Strachan 1

All the best,

Peter Przybycin.

Rules Summary

The first named player has the white pieces.

Rate of play is 90 minutes each, for the whole game.

Games will be played over-the-board at chess club, or at the home of the player with the white pieces. Score sheets and clocks must be used.

Both players should inform me of each game’s result via email.

The Eastleigh Operatic and Musical Society (EOMS) are currently performing their Chess – The Musical show at The Point in Eastleigh, until Saturday 26th November. I went to last night’s show (Thursday 24th).

Background to Chess – The Musical

The original Chess musical was written by Tim Rice in the 1980s, inspired by the famous Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky World Chess Championship of 1972. Rice approached Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from ABBA to write the music. The music is of various styles and includes hits One Night in Bangkok and I know Him So Well. The show premiered in 1986 and had three years in London’s West End; it has since been performed in many countries.

Brief synopsis of Chess – The Musical

The Cold War still rages, adding a key dimension to the World Chess Championship as the American World Champion Freddie Trumper defends his title against Soviet Grandmaster Anatoly Sergievsky. The central theme is the love triangle between the two Grandmasters and Florence Vassy, who is the manager of one of the players but falls in love with the other. Add in some Cold War plotting and you get a satisfyingly full story.

The Eastleigh Operatic and Musical Society Show

Some details – it’s still on, and with e-tickets sent to your phone, you can buy tickets easily.

Show performances remaining – tickets still available

• Friday 25th November 20222: 7:30 pm.
• Saturday 26th November: 2:30pm
• Saturday 26th November: 7:30pm

Although popular, there are still tickets available for all the shows listed above. Full price tickets are from £15-17, some discounts for over 60 and students and under-16s.

Chess Club involvement

The Musical Director for the EOMS production is Ian Partridge, Chandler’s Ford Chess Club member.

The chess club has provided the chess boards and clocks.

Recommendation

I saw the show last night, Thursday, and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Immersed in the story straightaway, I enjoyed all aspects of it: the acting, music and singing performances. I would recommend seeing the show if you get an opportunity.

I saw former club player Don Creasey afterwards, and he and his wife had also enjoyed the show.

Keven Lamb

Hampshire Chess Association will hold their Hampshire Chess Congress 2022 on 4-6th November, at the Lysses House Hotel in Fareham.

The over-the-board chess tournament comprises 6 Rounds of 4-hour games, organised in three Sections: The Open, the Major, and the Minor. There are currently 78 players entered in the tournament.

The venue

The Lysses House Hotel in Fareham is a pleasant and friendly venue that has been used by the Hampshire Chess Association on previous occasions, and also twice a year by Castle Chess (most recently 7-9 October this year). The address is: Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 7BQ.

Parking:

The Hotel has free parking for 35 cars, but there is a convenient car park very close to the venue: the Lysses Car Park, Lysses Path, Fareham PO16 7BE, free after 6pm and Sundays, whilst Saturday all day is only £3.50.

Hampshire Chess Congress 2022: details

Sections:

• The Open. £35 Entry fee.
• The Major. Under 1900 English Chess Federation rating. £30 Entry.
• The Minor. Under 1600 ECF. £27 Entry.

Note: Entry fees based on ECF Membership of Silver or above. Otherwise add a £9 fee.

Prizes

Each Section has Prizes 1st, 2nd, 3rd, plus a Grading Prize. There are also various Trophies and Cups in the Sections. Overall, there are further Prizes, such as the Gillian Moore Cup for the highest-scoring Hampshire Lady, and the John Dunleavy Memorial Best Game Prize (£100). The cash prizes are open to all players, whilst the Cups and Trophies are for Hampshire players.

For more details on the Prize see the HCA entry form link below:

Timetable

• Rd 1: Fri 1900-2300
• Rd 2: Sat 0900-1300
• Rd 3: Sat 1400-1800
• Rd 4: Sat 1900-2300
• Rd 5: Sun 0900-1300
• Rd 6: Sun 1400-1800 Prize-giving on Sunday at 18:05

Rate of play

The time control is 40 moves in 100 minutes followed by a 20-minute quickplay finish.

Byes

A ½-point bye may be taken in any one round except the last if claimed in advance on the entry form.

Book Prize 2022-23 Tournament organiser Peter Przybycin gives a Round 1 scores update and announces the Round 2 player pairings. The first named player has the white pieces.

Here are the results so far from round one of the 2022-23 Book Prize Tournament:

Premier section:

• Iwan Cave 1 Sam Murphy 0
• Cary Xie ½ Peter Przybycin ½
• Pablo Vidal 0 Keith Gregory 1

Major section:

• John Kooner 0 Keven Lamb 1
• Andrew Mills ½ Peter Eales ½
• Patrick Pavey 0 Nobby George 1
• John Pellegrini 0 Richard Meredith 1

Minor section:

• Alan Weaver 0 Rose Saunders 1
• Steve Dunleavy 0 Steve Saunders 1

Although three games are yet to be played in round one, I have been assured by those concerned that they will be completed ASAP. Two of these games are already scheduled for next Tuesday.

I will announce the pairings for round two shortly, adding an extra (fifth) week to its deadline. This will hopefully give time for the outstanding games to be played.

All the Best,

Peter.

Round 2 Pairings

Premier section:

• Robert Sims  v  Iwan Cave
• Cary Xie  v  Keith Gregory
• Sam Murphy  v  Graham Stuart 
• Peter Przybycin  v  Pablo Vidal

Major section:

• John Pellegrini v Andy Mills
• Peter Eales v Dick Meredith
• John Kooner v  Nobby George
• Keven Lamb v Patrick Pavey

Minor section:

• Steve Dunleavy v Alan Weaver
• Geoff Parish v Rose Saunders
• Lee Mundy v Steve Saunders
• Rob Strachan v Daniel Phillips
• Bye: Ian Parker

Rules Summary

The first named player has the white pieces.

Rate of play is 90 minutes each, for the whole game.

Games will be played over-the-board at chess club, or at the home of the player with the white pieces. Score sheets and clocks must be used.

Both players should inform me of each game’s result via email.

All games in this round to be played by 30^th November please.

Photos of the recent Castle Chess Fareham October 2022 tournament. Four Chandler’s Ford Chess Club players participated.

Castle Chess Fareham Congress 7-9 October 2022

Castle Chess held their 19th Fareham Congress tournament (over the board games) on 7-9th October 2022. It was at the Lysses House Hotel in Fareham.

Castle Chess have run a number of Congresses (tournaments) over recent years at this pleasant venue. They host two Congresses per year at the Lysses, one earlier in the year, one in the Autumn.

There were 97 players in the Congress, a huge level of interest.

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

There were three sections:

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

Photos: slideshow

Chandler’s Ford players at Fareham Congress

Chandler’s Ford Chess Club players participated across the range of Sections, with Iwan Cave and Keith Gregory in the Open, Graham Stuart in the Major, and Kev Lamb in the Minor. Graham ended up with 3.5 points, Iwan and Keven 3, and Keith 2 points.

Tournament organiser Rob Sims announces that the New Ladder starts for 2022-23.

The new chess ladder starts next week and will run until 12th September 2023.

As usual I have ranked players in reverse order  based on the October ECF grades and games can be played from next Tuesday.

I appreciate that the league has just started, the Summer Tournament is still running and the Book Tournament is also starting, so I’m not expecting many games to be played  for a while!

Please take a moment to read the rules which are attached as I have made some changes to help increase movement on the Ladder and encourage people to challenge others as and when possible.

I’d like to thank Keith for making suggestions and letting me see how the Fareham Club organise their ladder.

Best wishes 

Rob Sims

Click the link button below to go to the Ladder Page, with the latest ladder positions plus the Rules.

Ladder 2022-23 Rules

• Initial positions on the ladder are determined in order of grade.
• All games to be played on the clock, which will be set at 90 minutes each and played to a finish.
• You may challenge anyone who is one, two, three, or four places above you on the ladder.
• A challenge cannot be made more than 7 days ahead of a game. Once a challenge is accepted neither the challenger nor the player being challenged may make or accept another challenge.
• The player making the challenge plays white. The person being challenged plays black.
• You can email challenges to your eligible opponents in advance, but it won’t count as a loss if your opponent is unable to play for any reason. 
• If the lower ranked player wins, the lower ranked player takes the higher ranked player’s position on the ladder, and the higher ranked player moves down one place.
• If the higher ranked player wins, there is no change in the players’ rankings. If the game ends in a draw, the lower ranked player takes the position just below the higher ranked player.
• After a ladder game is played, at least one of the players must play a ladder game against someone else before they can play each other again. Please report all results of games to me and I will submit them to ECF for grading purposes.
• The top three players on Tuesday 12^th September 2023 will play off to decide the eventual winner. Players in second and third place play each other and the winner plays the player in first place.
• Online games can only be played against Mike Henbury.

Rob Sims October 2022

The pre-season friendly game against Fareham. The Chandler’s Ford team Captain Graham Stuart reports. Photo by Keith Gregory. Plus, some team player comments.

Proposal for a friendly match

At the end of last season Keith Gregory was asked by Fareham Chess Club to sound out Chandler’s Ford Chess Club about having a friendly match before the start of the next season.

With the season drawing to a conclusion and a “summer break” looming, Fareham chess club have asked me to check if there would be interest in a Fareham v CF friendly match (possibly two matches i.e., home & away). Fareham suggest we play it over 8 boards and restrict it to under 1900 players to level the playing field (as Fareham have 2 x 2200/2300 FMs!). Fareham chess club meets on Tuesday evenings @ the DOCOC club => https://www.facebook.com/docfareham/ – there’s plenty of space for many boards, free parking and a bar – what’s not to like 🙂 

Keith

Match details

• Date: Tuesday 30^th August 2022
• Time: 7:30 pm
• Location: Fareham Chess Club, Duke of Connaught’s Own club, 74 Western Road, Fareham PO16 0NS
• Time Control: 60 mins + 10 seconds per move
• We will toss a coin for colours and the board order for our team is in rating order (with the exception of Ian who is currently ungraded).

Match report

Many thanks for the players who played in our pre-season friendly against Fareham last night. Although we lost 5 – 3 this was an excellent result against a very strong side. As can be seen from their team their average grade was 160 points more than ours.

Excellent wins by Iwan and Ian and Rob drew against a very experienced strong player as well. I am still recovering from my draw which went to the bitter end when we were both living on the very small increment (10 seconds)

Graham Stuart

The game results will be submitted to the ECF for grading.

Team comments

Keith Gregory: Hard fought games all played in a very sporting manner by both teams – perhaps we can make this an annual event and host at CF next year?

Ian Partridge: Thanks Graham and Keith for setting this up, it was great fun. For anyone interested, my game is here: