The Book Prize Tournament 2022-23 organiser Peter Przybycin announces Round 9 – the last Round of the event . The pairings are for the Minor, which has 9 Rounds: the other sections had fewer Rounds.
Iwan and Keith expect to play their final round game on Tuesday 18th July. Iwan needs a draw to clinch the book prize, but Keith needs to win.
As already reported, the Major section has been won by Nobby George.
The Minor section title is between Lee Mundy and Daniel Phillips. Daniel is currently half a point ahead of Lee. Mathematically, no other player can now win the minor section.
There are a Maximum of 5 rounds: Preliminary, 16, 8, 4, 2.
The draw for the Preliminary round will be in May.
Please email Steve Dunleavy the result and let him know if you are having difficulty completing your game by the deadline date
Both clocks to be set at 90 minutes
The name drawn first plays with white in the event of a draw colours are to be reversed and the game is still to be played(if possible) within the original deadline.
If possible games to be played over the board at club on a club night, if not both players can agree a mutually convenient venue to play at.
All results to be sent for grading
Good luck and enjoy!
Please keep Steve Dunleavy informed as to what date you have agreed to play to enable him to monitor the progress of this competition.
Book Prize Tournament 2022-23 organiser Peter Przybycin outlines the situation so far, and announces the Round 8 player pairings. Games should be played by 12th July please.
The Premier section winner is still undecided as Iwan and Keith have yet to play their final round game. Iwan needs a draw to clinch it, but Keith needs to win.
As already reported, the Major section has been won by Nobby George.
Nobby George has won the Book Prize 2022-23 Major section.
The minor section still has two rounds to play, and it’s going to be between Lee Mundy and Daniel Phillips for the book prize. Lee is currently half a point ahead of Daniel, and they play each other in this coming round. Mathematically, no other player can now win the minor section.
Southampton Chess League AGM, Wednesday 31st May 2023, 7.30pm, Chandlers Ford Central Club (2 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 2FZ).
Agenda
Welcome Thanks to Chandlers Ford club for hosting us.
Apologies for absence Roger Marsh (Grading Officer), Stephen Cartridge (Andover)
Minutes of previous AGM (14 June 2022) and matters arising The ‘missing’ Division 2 trophy was retrieved from the estate of Chris Priest (sadly, he passed away in December 2022).
Secretary Report (Fraser McLeod) – the season ran smoothly aside from one ongoing complaint for discussion (see proposal 4)
Treasurer Report and League Subs (Michael Pope).
Website (Graham Stuart) – we propose to use the ECF League Management System (LMS). This is used by many leagues around the country . An added benefit, supported by Roger Marsh (Grading Officer), is that the LMS automatically sends results for rating, substantially reducing workload.
Rating – (for discussion of any rating-related issues)
Election of officers – The current officers – Fraser McLeod (Sec), Malcolm Clarke (Fixtures and Results Sec), Michael Pope (Treasurer and Vice-chair), Matthew Coldwell (Chair), Graham Stuart (Webmaster), Roger Marsh (Grading Officer) are willing to continue.
Proposals
Planning for the next season. Tentatively place teams into divisions based on current structure, with promotions, and regarding expected numbers of teams and clubs’ preferred divisions. With only 5 teams in Division 1 this season, there may be no need for any relegations.
Presentation of trophies
2022/23 winner
Previous season (2022)
Division 1
Fareham A
Fareham A
Division 2
Basingstoke A
Salisbury A
Division 3
Southampton B
Basingstoke A
Division 4
Chandlers Ford B
Fareham B
Division 5
Winchester C
Basingstoke C
Robertson Cup
Fareham A
Not held
Robertson Plate
Salisbury B
Not held
Individual
Tom Anderson
Not held
List of League Trophies
Important: All trophy holders should bring them to the AGM for presentation to this season’s winners. Basingstoke hold the Division 3 and 5 trophies – all other trophies are with the League Sec.
This was my 33rd season as a committee member of the Southampton Chess League and the 32nd as a secretary. It was good to have a full season after the previous three years had seen one truncated season, one blank season and one half season due to Covid. The Robertson Cup and Plate which had not been competed for since 2019/20 and not completed since 2018/19 were reintroduced.
The five divisions were won respectively by Fareham A, Basingstoke A, Southampton B, Chandlers Ford B and Winchester C, meaning that for the first time I can remember the five divisions were won by five different clubs. Fareham also became the first club to win the Southampton and Portsmouth leagues in the same season. Salisbury became the sixth club to win a trophy this season when they won the Robertson Plate, while Fareham A completed the double when they also won the Robertson Cup.
All divisions ran with six teams, except for Division 1 which ran with five. No individual team remained unbeaten through the campaign and the only winless team drew two matches. In divisions 2, 3, 4 and 5 only one match was defaulted and it was good to see many clubs fulfilling long distance away trips even when it was difficult to have a full complement of players available for the trip.
At last year’s AGM new rules were introduced to the Robertson Cup/Plate which meant that the Plate was for clubs in division 3 and below who were not a club’s first team, with no overlap of players between the two competitions. Although the motion was comfortably agreed at the AGM I did have some concerns. Two clubs with a team in the lower three divisions that was not their club’s first team played no part in the Plate and I was involved in a lot of dialogue with other clubs to check whether they had the resources to enter both Cup and Plate. As things stood, I thought that some teams in the Plate might struggle to keep players eligible to play in the bottom three divisions in league games available for the Plate, while it was still possible for regular Division 1 players to play in the Plate providing they were not nominated to play in Division 1.
For the draws in both Cup and Plate I tried to regionalise the early draws and for the Cup I generally tried to apply the idea of seeding.
Team captains are permitted to act as arbiters, but I think it may be worth clarifying what they can or cannot do in that role.
Matthew Coldwell took over as chairman, while his fellow Salisbury player Michael Pope took on the roles of vice chairman and Treasurer. It is good to see new blood on the committee, alongside long-serving secretary Fraser McLeod. In addition, Graham Stuart has taken on the role of Webmaster. Sadly, Chris Priest, who was a long-serving member of the committee, died during the season.
During the season Andover switched from Wednesday night to Tuesday night, although that change was not known when compiling the fixtures, but it will be noted for next season. The fixtures are always a challenge with University teams being unable to play during certain periods of the season, other clubs being unable to play on certain dates, and some clubs being unable to play more than one home match on the same evening. The need to avoid consecutive teams of the same club playing on the same night and some clubs playing in other leagues means that compiling fixtures can be challenging, but I do not think that too many fixtures have required rearranging.
Results continue to be entered on the SCL website soon after matches are played which represents a good service, especially with the Southern Daily Echo no longer publishing results on a daily basis.
Book Prize Tournament 2022-23 organiser Peter Przybycin reports on the event so far, and reveals the player pairings for Round 7.
Tournament round-up report
The Premier and Major sections have reached the final round of the Book Prize Tournament, and the winner of each section is still in the balance.
In the Premier it’s a straight fight between Iwan and Keith. Iwan is half a point ahead of Keith, so requires at least a draw to take the prize. Keith must win to retain his title.
In the Major, there are several possible outcomes, as three players (Nobby George, Andy Mills, and Keven Lamb) are still in with a chance of winning.
Nobby has a significant half point lead, so if he wins his final game (against Andy) he retains his title.
If Nobby draws with Andy he still retains his title, even if Keven matches his score by winning his final round game, because a tie break is decided by the result of their individual game, which Nobby won.
If Andy beats Nobby, then he takes the title, unless Keven wins his final game against Dick Meredith. In this case, Keven would take the title because he beat Andy in their individual game!
The Summer Tournament 2023 starts as its organiser Malcolm Clarke announces the player pairings for the first Round.
The Summer Tournament runs during the summer, and is a 5-round Swiss format between May and September. Usually in the Summer Tournaments, the winner’s name is engraved on the Kooner Cup and the winner receives a replica of the Cup. The organiser is Malcolm Clarke.
The Summer Tournament is usually 5 Rounds over the summer months – about a month per Round. The winner receives the Kooner Cup for a year and usually gets to keep a replica. The games are standard play in terms of time control, 90 minutes each player.
Round 1 should be played by 31st May.
Summer Tournament prize: the Kooner Cup
Click on the button below to see the Summer Tournament 2023 Page:
The Knockout Tournament 2023 , organised by Steve Dunleavy, has seen a record 28 entrants. It has a Preliminary Round plus 4 byes to establish the Round 1 players.
The Chandlers Ford Knockout Trophy
With a record 28 entrants this year we have 4 byes into the first round and 12 preliminary round games to qualify for the first round. If you are defeated in your preliminary round game you are eliminated from the competition. This system will reduce us from 28 to 16, and then 8, 4, and 2 thereafter.
There are a Maximum of 5 rounds: Preliminary, 16, 8, 4, 2).
The draw for the Preliminary round will be in May.
Please email Steve Dunleavy the result and let him know if you are having difficulty completing your game by the deadline date
Both clocks to be set at 90 minutes
The name drawn first plays with white in the event of a draw colours are to be reversed and the game is still to be played(if possible) within the original deadline.
If possible games to be played over the board at club on a club night, if not both players can agree a mutually convenient venue to play at.
All results to be sent for grading
Good luck and enjoy!
Please keep Steve Dunleavy informed as to what date you have agreed to play to enable him to monitor the progress of this competition.
Cheers! Knockout 2023 organiser Steve Dunleavy says “Good luck and enjoy!”
Book Prize Tournament 2022-23 organiser Peter Przybycin reports on the scores so far, and announces the player pairings for Round 6.
One interesting match, in the Minor, is husband versus wife – Steve Saunders v Rose Saunders. See our article about their many games against each other: The couple who played 2000 games together.
Steve and Rose Saunders
The first named player has the white pieces.
This year the tournament is divided into three all-play-all sections: Premier, Major, and Minor.
Peter has taken delivery of this year’s Book Prizes: Alexey Bezgodov, Defend Like Petrosian.
Book Prize Tournament 2022-23 Round six pairings:
Premier Section
Graham Stuart v Iwan Cave
Keith Gregory v Peter Przybycin
Cary Xie v Pablo Vidal
Robert Sims v Sam Murphy
Still to play from earlier rounds:
Keith Gregory v Graham Stuart
Pablo Vidal v Sam Murphy
Major Section
Richard Meredith v Andrew Mills
John Kooner v Patrick Pavey
Nobby George v Keven Lamb
John Pellegrini v Peter Eales
Still to play from previous round:
John Pellegrini v John Kooner
Minor Section
Daniel Phillips v Geoff Parish
Lee Mundy v Alan Weaver
Ian Parker v John Davis
Steve Saunders v Rose Saunders
Rob Strachan v Steve Dunleavy
Please play the above games by 9th May 2023, if possible.
Book Prize Tournament 2022-23 organiser Peter Przybycin announces the player pairings for Round 5. He reports on the scores so far, and reveals this year’s Book Prizes (see photo).
The first named player has the white pieces.
This year the tournament is divided into three all-play-all sections: Premier, Major, and Minor.
Peter has taken delivery of this year’s Book Prizes: Alexey Bezgodov, Defend Like Petrosian:
The Book Prizes 2023
Book Prize Tournament 2022-23 Round 5 pairings:
Premier Section:
Peter Przybycin v Iwan Cave
Pablo Vidal v Sam Murphy
Rob Sims v Cary Xie
Keith Gregory v Graham Stuart
Still to play from earlier rounds:
Keith Gregory v Rob Sims
Graham Stuart v Pablo Vidal
Sam Murphy v Keith Gregory
Major Section:
Keven Lamb v Andrew Mills
Patrick Pavey v Peter Eales
Nobby George v Richard Meredith
John Pellegrini v John Kooner
Minor Section:
Geoff Parish v Alan Weaver
Daniel Phillips v Ian Parker
Steve Saunders v Lee Mundy
John Davis v Rob Strachan
Rose Saunders v Steve Dunleavy
Please play the above games by 12th April 2023, if possible.
Castle Chess will hold their 21st Fareham Congresstournament (over the board games) on 10th-12th March 2023. It will be at the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BQ.
The Lysses House Hotel, 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. 2022’s events were so popular (95 players in October) that Castle Chess added a January event to their 2023 calendar. See some photos from the January event below.
Photos of the previous Fareham event in January
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. Byes may be requested (except Round 6).
There are three sections:
Open: Under 2001
Major: Under 1901
Minor: under 1601
The Congress costs £40 to enter, with a £7 discount for Juniors. Non-ECF members will need to pay £9 extra. There are also various accommodation packages – available through Castle Chess – if you would like to stay at the Lysses.
Tea and coffee will be provided for a donation.
Results of all games will be be sent to the ECF for Grading.
There will not be a Prize-giving ceremony as prizes will be sent via bank transfer.
Rate of Play
The rate of play for the games is 75 minutes plus 30 seconds per move (about 3 and a half hours). All moves must be recorded throughout the game.
