Author: Lawrence Rhodes

FIRST CLASS PERFORMANCE!

Our 1st team have been battling to keep their place in the 1st division. 

We needed 1 point from our last 2 matches. These matches were against Horsham and Worthing – two of the strongest clubs in the league.

Needing a draw we took on Horsham at home on Friday 4th April. Howard, on our Board 1 and Andy on our board 2 each secured excellent draws during play, whilst the other two games were adjourned.

 Mike Hubbard’s game on Board 3 showed, after analysis, that he had a certain win.  Congratulations Mike!

 Analysis of Andrew’s game on Board 4 showed a certain draw. All-round sustained fine play from each member of the team.

Over the weekend Horsham agreed to these results so we won by 2.5 to 1.5.

 This result means that we remain in Division 1 and hopefully if our 2nd team can gain a draw from their final match on Friday 2nd May v Hastings 2 we will have 2 teams in division 1 next season. 

Thank you to everyone who came and played in our 6th Grand Prix event of the season last night. Well done to our joint winners: Luke Chapman, James Lumsden and Janis Petersons. Updated season tables can be found below or over on the ‘Grand Prix’ page.

And so the prestigious Hastings congress has come to a close. The masters section being won by the teenager Haowen Xue, undefeated with 5 wins and 4 draws.
Our Luke Chapman playing in the masters section finished on 3/9. With 2 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses. And grand effort in an incredibly tough section.
In the new years’ tournaments, several Bexhill members participated.
New member Michael Hubbard played in the Under 2050 section and finished on 2.5/5 in joint 7th.
Bill Luxton, Michael Hayward and Steve Blewitt all played in the Under 1850 section. Steve with 2.5/5 in 12th, and Bill and Michael both scoring 3/5 and finishing in joint 6th.
In the final weekend tournaments, Luke played in the open section and scored 2.5 from 5, finishing in 17th. Bill Luxton and Leo Woning both played in the intermediate section. Leo scored 1.5/5 finishing 29th and Bill 2.5/5 finishing in 17th.
In the minor section, Bill Tracey scored 2.5/5 finishing 21st and Rose had a very successful weekend scoring 3.5/5 and finishing joint 6th!
Well done to Bill Tracey and Michael Hayward who both won a share of a rating prize in their sections! Well done to you all!

Massive congratulations to Bexhill junior Harry Morter who won the under 18 minor section of GP4 in Hastings on New Year’s Day. Well done Harry!
Harry will now be promoted to the under 18 major section, the highest section in Junior county chess.

Well done to all our members representing Bexhill at the Hastings chess congress this week.

7 of our members have been battling at the prestigious tournament.
Luke Chapman has been playing in the Masters section! The tournament continues but he has had some great results so far with a win against 1912 and a draw against a WFM.

All the other members have been playing in the rated sections of the 6 round Con Power events.
Andrew Fleming played in the Under 1950 section. He scored 3.5 and finished in 8th place.
Lawry, Leo, Michael, Rose and Bill Tracey were all playing in the Under 1750 section.
Rose did very well in a tough section and scored 1.5 points finishing in 31st. Michael Hayward finished even on 3 points, putting him in 16th. Leo faired a half point better finishing in joint 11th. Finally, Bill and Lawry had very successful tournaments, both scoring 4 from 6 and finishing in joint 6th.

Well done to you all! And good luck to everyone playing in the upcoming New Year tournaments.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Christmas prize-giving and social event last night.
The evening began with the presentation of trophies from the year’s events.
The time handicap award was presented to Andrew Fleming.
The Blitz award to Mark Rich.
The Gordon cup was presented to last season’s winner: Rose Burgess.
The club championship trophy, going back to 1930, was presented to last season’s champion: James Lumsden.
The player of the season for 23-24 was awarded to Andy Nguyen.
And finally, the club member of the year, awarded for outstanding contribution to the club was awarded to Sharon Merchant.
Once the prize giving was completed, we feasted on a a delicious buffet provided by the local cheese shop, (Thank you Julie!) and paired up to play some ‘hand and brain’.
It was a lot of fun, especially as many members were playing this format for the first time. At the end of play, joint winners emerged: John Kimber with David Pratt, and Luke Chapman with Sharon Merchant, who all finished on 3.5 from 4 games.
Massive thank you to Bill Tracey for organising such an enjoyable evening. And thank you to all the members who kindly stayed behind to help with the clearing up afterwards.
A very Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year to all our members!