The Keith Bateman Memorial Trophy event was held at Salisbury, and was a handicap blitz chess tournament (see Highcliffe Chess Club’s report on last year’s inaugural event). Six teams of 4 players competed. Chandler’s Ford captain David Culliford reports.

On Thursday 25th July, Chandler’s Ford accepted an invitation to compete in a handicap blitz tournament hosted by Salisbury Chess Club. The event comprised six teams of four players, drawn from four local clubs (Salisbury, Ringwood, Highcliffe and Chandler’s Ford), playing in an all-play-all format. Handicap blitz is a style of chess with a fast and furious time control in which players are handicapped based on the difference between their playing strengths. For example, opposing players with a similar grading would have ten minutes each on their clock for the entire game, whereas a strong county player meeting a novice might have 4 and 16 minutes available respectively.

The organisers and arbiters for the evening (Pete Donaldson of Ringwood and Michael Pope of Salisbury) began by welcoming the assembled players and then briefly summarised the tournament rules for those unfamiliar with the playing format. Some exciting chess was played over the five rounds, and occasionally one could hear the clatter of pieces hitting the floor as over eager players got carried away in their urgency to meet the time control – who says chess is boring?! There was an interval after the 3rd round during which refreshments were served, which provided much needed relief from the intensity of the chess on what was a hot and humid night.

At the end of the evening, the Chandler’s Ford team (Graham Stuart, David Culliford, Sam Murphy and Matthew Coldwell) emerged victorious, winning the first four rounds and drawing the last, although it must be said that a quarter of the Chandler’s Ford team (Coldwell) is actually a Salisbury club member. Matthew’s performance was particularly noteworthy, with wins in all five of his games. The evening concluded with Pete Donaldson presenting the trophy to David Culliford, the captain of Chandler’s Ford. All in all, a great evening of fun competitive chess among friends.

The English Chess Federation publishes the new chess grades twice a year. The July 2019 list has now been published by the ECF.

Has your Grade gone up? Check on the ECF Grading Database

Malcolm Clarke in his regular article for the Hampshire Chronicle gives a round-up of the Summer Tournament and the Knock-Out.

At  the end of round 2 of the Chandlers Ford summer chess tournament four players have two points Phil Overton, Rob Sims, Peter Przybycin and David Culliford and they will play each other in round 3 with Overton playing Sims and Culliford playing Przybycin.  James Lesniak who had a bye in round 1 and won his round 2 game is half a point behind, Przybycin and Overton are also amongst the semi finalists for the knockout competition which also includes Rob Bird and John Kooner.

The 2019 Summer Tournament began in April and is now in its third Round. It is organised and run by Malcolm Clarke, and is a 5-round Swiss in its format. It is one of three of the Club’s Tournaments. When the pairings for each round are announced, the first-named player has the white pieces. The odd number of players means byes are inevitable, but no player will receive more than one bye. The winner will have their name engraved on the Tournament’s trophy, the Kooner Cup.

Round 3 pairings

Phil Overton	Rob Sims
David Culliford	Peter Przybycin
Don Creasey	James Lesniak
John Kooner	Rob Bird
Dick Meredith	Maha Chandar
Rob Strachan	Keven Lamb
Sam Murphy	Mansa Chandar
Steve Saunders	Ian Parker
Steve Dunleavy	Rose Saunders
Nobby George	bye

Malcolm Clarke reports on the Chandler’s Ford Ladder, the Hampshire Individual tournament, The Robertson Draw at the Southampton Chess League AGM, plus the likelihood of our C team being relegated, in an article that appears in the current print edition of the Hampshire Chronicle.

The ladder competition at Chandlers Ford chess club has been won by Peter Przybycin.  He drew his playoff match with Phil Overton, but as he had beaten Phil in their game in the ladder Phil sportingly agreed to allow him to take the title.

In the Southampton Individual Championship Chandlers Ford’s Rob Strachan obtained one point from four games, but he gave a good account of himself against higher graded players.

Roger Marsh who captained the Eastleigh Rail  first team before their relocation to Chandlers Ford obtained two points in the same competition.

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 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.