The C team hosted Basingstoke C in the League last week. Both teams at double-strength for numbers of players – an 8-board super-match!
The fixture was in the Southampton Chess League’s Division 5, a home fixture for our C team, on 1st March 2022.
Extra Games
Chandler’s Ford C Team captain Steve Dunleavy arranged with his Basingstoke counterpart David Graham to have additional players participate, continuing a feature of the League’s Divisions 4 and 5 before the pandemic, in which teams could field extra players for grading purposes in the English Chess Federation.
The extra games gave both teams the opportunity to give as many players as possible graded games in match conditions – and against players from a club other than their own.
The Basingstoke C team had several junior players, and their parents brought them and were there to support them. Not that the youngsters needed much support, being very good players.
Basingstoke C’s parents and relatives
It was great to see such a big attendance at the club: the 8 players from each team, plus the visitors’ families, plus more Chandler’s Ford Chess club players playing their various club tournament games. The double-sized match was the largest such event since before the pandemic, when Chandler’s Ford C and D teams played an 8-board match in January 2020.
Match result 2-2
The match was well-contested and ended with a 2-2 draw – for the match boards 1-4. The extra games played for grading and match experience saw the Basingstoke visitors win all the remaining games on boards 5-8.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. See below for details of the individual results.
Board
Home Team C. Ford C
Result
Away Team Basingstoke C
1
Keven Lamb
0-1
Liam Durangparang
2
John Kooner
0-1
Harry Smith
3
Peter Eales
1-0
Edward Yang
4
Nobby George
1-0
Ojas Dhall
2-2
Chandler’s Ford C v Basingstoke C, 1st March 2022
Extra boards for grading and match experience
Board
Home Team C. Ford C
Result
Away Team Basingstoke C
5
Steve Saunders
0-1
Shams Dilly
6
Rose Saunders
0-1
Adam Matthews
7
Lee Mundy
0-1
Saksham Rana
8
John Pellegrini
0-1
David Graham
Extra, graded games, Chandler’s Ford C v Basingstoke C, 1st March 2022
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!
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.
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.
Steve and Rose Saunders
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:
Rose and Steve’s lichess ratings
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.
Rose Saunders’ lichess latest, at 13th February 2022.
2000 Games against each other
Rose vs Steve: 2000 games
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!
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 reporton Hampshire Chess Association’s website.
Chandler’s Ford players scored a win (Graham Stuart), and 2 draws (David Culliford and Keven Lamb).
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.
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.
A reminder to renew our membership subscriptions for 2022 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 4th January to 31st January. Any Membership renewals after then will be subject to a Late Renewals Fee of £5.
Our venue is the Chandler’s Ford Central Club; membership subscriptions year is January to December
To renew your Membership, see the Central Club’s website Subscriptions Page 2022 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 2022 Page 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
Chandler’s Ford Central Club Membership renewal 2022
* 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 Chandler’s Ford Central Club for account details.
When sending the money please ensure you put your Member Number which can be seen on your Yellow Membership Card and Surname into the Payment Reference, to enable the details to be matched on the system to enable 2021 Cards to be available when the Club opens.
If you want a CIU Pass card, please remember to add £3.50 for each Card. All Membership Cards will be prepared and will then be available for collection (can be collected from the Main Bar).
Chandler’s Ford Central Club Membership 2022
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 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.
The 2022 League Season starts – with a win for Chandler’s Ford. Match captain Rob Sims reports on Chandler’s Ford Chess Club’s first fixture of the new 2022 short season. Photo by Hanna Dunleavy.
MATCH REPORT
Tuesday 18th January 2022 saw the return of over the board Southampton Chess League games when the first match of this 3 month season took place at Chandler’s Ford Central Club as the Chandler’s Ford B team took on Andover B. It felt really good to get back to league chess again following a gap of nearly 2 years due to the Covid19 pandemic. The Chandler’s Ford team consisted of Sam Murphy, Dick Meredith, Keven Lamb and Nobby George on boards 1-4 respectively. Starting a little after 7.30 to allow a pre match photo of the 8 players, the club room returned to a hushed silence level last heard in March 2020!
Chandler’s Ford B (right) v Andover B 18 Jan 2022
Nobby was the first to finish with a win against Andrew Dinkele, followed by Keven who astounded his opponent Graham Payne with a sudden win against the run of play. This put Chandlers Ford 2-0 up with the two top boards still to finish. Tension mounted when Sam resigned against his ungraded but strong opponent Steve Jones, so with the score at 2-1 in our favour it came down to a close tussle between Dick Meredith for Chandler’s Ford and Gavin Stonham for Andover. Dick had two bishops against knight and bishop with 5 pawns a piece. This very close match played on for at least an hour after the other 3 games had been completed and it did not finish until 10.25pm when a draw was offered and accepted, giving Chandler’s Ford a 2.5-1.5 win propelling them to the top of Division 4 after one match.
Match individual results
Chandler’s Ford B
Andover B
Sam Murphy
0-1
Steven Jones
Dick Meredith
0.5-0.5
Gavin Stonham
Keven Lamb
1-0
Graham Payne
Nobby George
1-0
Andrew Dinkele
–score–
2.5-1.5
Chandler’s Ford B vs Andover B, Tuesday 18th January 2022
The Andover B match captain is Kevin Steele. Kevin kindly submitted the results to the Southampton Chess League Website. See his Scorecard and kind comments on the SCL Website. Andover B are a friendly team and it was a pleasure to host them.
It was a great evening, with Southampton Chess League match play returning for our club, and the chess club was very well attended too, with several new players coming along.
The Chandler’s Ford B team’s next match is on Thursday 3rd February, away against Southampton University B.
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.
The New Southampton Chess League Season starts this month! Chandler’s Ford B have their first match on Tuesday 18th January 2022. In this article we look back at the Southampton Chess League EGM which discussed the format for the forthcoming semi-season – and look forward as the League Fixtures are announced.
League EGM
The Southampton Chess League met for its Extraordinary General Meeting at our Club’s venue in Chandler’s Ford on Wednesday 13th October 2021.
Fixtures Secretary Malcolm Clarke Awarded for long service by League and Chess Club
Chandler’s Ford’s Malcolm Clarke received recognition for his long service to the Southampton Chess League as its Fixtures Secretary and as Club Secretary of Chandler’s Ford (previously Eastleigh). He has served 31 years as a principal member of the Southampton League. Malcolm Clarke was awarded a special Trophy and engraved Tankard from the League and Chandler’s Ford Chess Club. The video and pictures below capture Malcolm’s delight at the Awards.
VIDEO: Fraser McLeod presents Malcolm Clarke with Long Service Award Tankard at the League EGM on Wednesday 13th October 2021.
Click on any of the photos in the gallery below for full picture, and scroll from there.
Malcolm Clarke thanks Gillian Moore and the League for Award Trophy. Photo: Graham Stuart.
Malcolm Clarke at the Southampton Chess League EGM 13 October 2021. Photo: Graham Stuart.
Delight! Malcolm Clarke with his League and Club Awards 13 October 2021, presented by SCL President Gillian Moore. Photo: Mansa Chandar.
Delight! Malcolm Clarke with his League and Club Awards 13 October 2021. Photo: Mansa Chandar.
Malcolm Clarke thanks the League for his Award, 13 October 2021. Photo: Mansa Chandar.
Malcolm Clarke thanks League for his Award, 13 October 2021. Photo: Mansa Chandar.
League President Gillian Moore presents Malcolm Clarke with SCL service Award trophy 13 October 2021. Photo: Mansa Chandar.
Malcolm Clarke receives League and Club Awards from SCL President Gillian Moore at SCL EGM 13 October 2021. Photo- Suzan Dunleavy
Malcolm Clarke receives League and Club recognition Awards for long service. Photos by Graham Stuart, Mansa Chandar, and Suzan Dunleavy
New Season 2021-22
Following the EGM the League consulted with the chess clubs as to what form the 2021-22 season would take, given the effects of Covid. Three format options were proposed:
Option 1 – League format with 3 divisions of 6 teams, 5 matches playing each team once only
Option 2 – League format with 5 divisions of 4 teams, 6 matches playing each team home and away
Option 3 – Team Swiss format with 5 or 6 rounds, each match to be played within a 3-week period. Either all teams together in one Swiss or, to avoid mismatches, there could be a Swiss A and a Swiss B
In all cases, teams have 4 players only as agreed at the EGM.
The consultation process has now crystallised into the League format of Option 2. The League has a 5-Division structure.
Club Fixtures 2022
We now have the dates for the Chandler’s Ford fixtures. See the fixture table below.
Southampton Chess League Fixtures for Chandler’s Ford Chess Club
Happy New Year everyone! Much like a year ago, Covid dominates the news. But 2021 still saw a fair amount of chess at Club and beyond. We take a brief look back at the year.
Chandler’s Ford Chess Club Review of 2021
Club Tournaments
All the club tournaments Chandler’s Ford Chess Club players normally enjoy did run this year – even if games had to be played online for much of the year.
The Knock-out Tournament. Steve Dunleavy organised this again, and this year the tournament attracted 20 players. Peter Przybycin won the Knock-out, and Steve Dunleavy presented him with its weighty Trophy at the Autumn Curry.
Peter Przybycin (left) is presented with the Knock-Out Trophy by Steve Dunleavy
Peter Przybycin organises the newest of the club tournaments, the Book Prize. 12 players participated in the first all-play-all 11 Round event, 2020-21. Mike Henbury won the Book Prize – Bronstein Move By Move by Steve Giddins. The new 2021-22 Book Prize is divided into Major and Minor Sections so that an all-play-all format can be retained for the increased number of players in this popular event (20 players in all).
The Prize
The Summer Tournament, organised by our Club Secretary Malcolm Clarke, had 19 players this year. The 2021 winner is Keith Gregory.
Nobby George originally set up the The Ladder Tournament. When the Coronavirus led to lockdown, Nobby ran an online version of the Ladder on lichess.org. Sam Murphy was the winner of the 2021 Ladder. Sam has set up and got the the 2021-22 Ladder started, whilst Rob Sims will run the Tournament going forward.
Online Tournaments. During lockdown we kept in touch as a club by playing chess online, in the standard long-play games of the established club tournaments, plus the ‘virtual club-nights’ of our regular weekly rapid-play online tournaments. Our online games are played on lichess.org.
Junior Chess Club
The Chandler’s Ford Junior Chess Club is organised by Maha Chandar, and this year has seen some major tournaments, both online and over the board. The coronavirus has limited the numbers that could safely attend the over-the-board tournaments – but these were successful and popular events. See photo below.
Junior Tournament 28 Nov 2021
A rising star of the Junior Club is Iwan Cave: in October he played in the Major Section of the Castle Chess Fareham Congress against players of all ages – and won the Major Section Grading Prize!
Iwan Cave, Grading Prize winner, at Castle Chess Fareham Congress 2021
Club Secretary Honoured at League EGM
Malcolm Clarke, Club Secretary of Chandler’s Ford Chess Club and Southampton Chess League Fixture Secretary, was honoured for his long service to the local chess scene by both League and Club, receiving trophies on behalf of both at the Southampton Chess League Extraordinary General Meeting on 13th October from League President Gillian Moore.
Delight! Malcolm Clarke with his League and Club Awards 13 October 2021, presented by League President Gillian Moore. Photo: Mansa Chandar.
Club AGM
Malcolm Clarke presided over the Club’s own AGM on Tuesday 26th October, attended by 15 of the club’s members. It was quite a jolly meeting, everyone just so glad to meet in person after the long lockdown.
Chandlers Ford Chess Club AGM 26 October 2021
The Autumn Curry
The next evening, Wednesday 27th October saw the chess club’s Autumn Curry, organised by David Culliford. This was a great social gathering – and as it turned out – the main social event of the year. One of our former players, John Zastapilo, who has lived in Belgium for many years now, has renewed his link with the club by participating in our online weekly tournaments. John Z was visiting the UK at the time, seeing family and friends – and he came to the Autumn Curry at the Sunrise Balti & Tandoori Restaurant in Chandler’s Ford. It was great to see him after such a long time.
Steve Dunleavy (left) and John Zastapilo at the Autumn Curry 2021The Chandlers Ford Chess Club Autumn Curry 27 October 2021
County matches
Chandler’s Ford Chess Club players have taken part in Over The Board County matches when these resumed in the Autumn, including the home match against Kent, and the away match against Oxford. Click on the pictures below to see more information.
Vishy Anand wishes Steve season’s greetings
2021 ended with Festive wishes and some good advice from former World ChampionViswanathan Anand to our own club’s Steve Dunleavy. Read our recent Post here.
