Match report from Bill Tracey:
On Monday 11th November our 2nd team travelled to Brighton to take on their 3rd team.
We fielded a strong team of Janis, James, Leo and Michael H.
Janis and James lead the way with fine wins on boards 1 and 2.
Leo lost on 3 and Michael gained a solid draw on 4.
This win by 2.5 to 1.5 sees our 2nd team sitting at the top of Division 2 with 2 draws and 1 win.
Match report from Bill Tracey:
On Friday 8th November for the 1st time we hosted two league matches on the same evening. Our 1st team played East Grinstead 1st team and our 3rd team played Hastings 3rd team.
Our 1st team faced a dauting challenge against a team that included an IM on board 1 and a NM on board 3. Despite the best efforts of Howard, Andy, Leo and Lawry the match was lost 4 to 0.
Our 3rd team, in board order was Luke, Bill L, Jo and Michael Hayward. Luke had a fine win on 1 against a player rated 2132P. Bill lost on 2 against an opponent rated 138 higher. Jo had an excellent draw playing against an opponent rated 239 higher. On 4 Michael played well to win against an opponent with a very similar grade. Final result was a fine win against a very strong Hastings 3rd team by 2.5 to 1.5.
Many thanks to Michael Hayward who organised the evening.
On Sunday 10th of November four of our juniors went to Downlands school in Hassocks. The event was a 6 round Swiss tournament to crown the county champions in 4 age group categories: U9, U11, U13 and U18. Harry, Rose and Sam were all competing in the U13 section.They all had a fantastic day. Harry came out strong and won his first game but was unlucky to be drawn against the second seed with a rating of over 1700 in round 2 and lost. He then came back strong winning his next two games before losing to the top seed (rated 1835) in round 5. Harry soldiered on to win his last game in round 6 finishing on a very respectable 4/6 in tied 5th. Rose was looking to be having a mixed day with a win, a draw and a loss in the first three rounds but then she came back strong and won her last three games finishing on 4.5 and tied third place. Rose just missed out on taking home the 3rd place trophy by one tie break point but took home the top girl trophy instead. Sam started strong winning his first three games including an epic battle against Rose in round three. In round four he faced the second seed rated 1716 and despite his best efforts he unfortunately lost. He fought on through two more difficult rounds finishing on 5/6 in second place only losing to the eventual winner.
Luke was playing in the very competitive U18 section. He started well winning his first two games and then lost to the eventual winner in round 3. In round 4 he picked up a draw before winning in round 5 and 6. This meant Luke finished on 4.5 and joint first. With a slightly lower tie break he took home the second place trophy.
Fantastic performance from all our juniors. We are all very proud of you.
Match report from our captain Bill Tracey
On Friday 1st November Bexhill 2 hosted East Grinstead 2 in the 2nd Division of the Sussex League.
Over the last 18 months East Grinstead have managed to recruit some very strong players,
and this showed as they fielded a NM on board 1!
Janis fought hard but to no avail and eventually had to resign.
On board 2 James found himself in a very unusual game. Early on he trapped his opponents Queen and won it in exchange for a Bishop and 2 pawns.
Unfortunately he found himself in a very undeveloped position which required a lot of work to remedy. Eventually the players agreed to a draw.
Based on ratings Leo and his opponent were very evenly balanced and so it proved as the game ended in a draw.
On board 4 Luke continued his fine form of late and established a small lead going into the end game
and eventually forced a win.
Final score 2 all.
Match report from our captain Bill Tracey:
Friday 25th October saw the opening match of the Sussex League Division 2 when our 2nd and 3rd teams played each other.
The teams were as follows:
2nd team James, Leo, Lawry and Ed.
3rd team Luke, Bill L, Oli and Bill T.
The match developed into a very well balanced affair.
On the top board James unfortunately made an early error that cost him a piece. Despite this he fought hard and caused Luke several problems, but Luke is too
good a player to not make full use of such an advantage and eventually emerged victorious.
On board 2 Leo and Bill L proved to be well matched and after a good tussle agreed a draw.
On board 3 The match between Lawry and Oli came down to a very tight Rook and Pawn
ending which looked quite drawish. However Lawry was eventually able to gain the upper hand and with a pawn promotion imminent Oli had to resign.
In my game with Ed I had the feeling that I was a little better for much of the game but Ed proved to be very resourceful and I was not able to prove my feeling and we eventually agreed a draw.
So the final match score was 2 all.
Match report from our captain Bill Tracey:
On Tuesday 22nd October Bexhill 1st team travelled
to Lewes for the first match of the season.
The match was close but unfortunately Bexhill lost by 2.5 to 1.5.
Playing his first match for Bexhill, and his first competitive match for several years, Howard played on board 1 but unfortunately lost. Andrew was on board 2 and was quite heavily out rated and also lost.
Janis did well on board 3 to secure a draw whilst being out rated by 175 points. Playing black on board 4 James secured a fine win against an opponent rated 100 points higher.
Many congratulations to Bexhill junior Harry Morter! Harry played in the recent LJCC qualifier at Worth run by @sussexjuniorchess. Harry had a great day with 3 wins and 3 draws finishing on 4.5 points, which not only won him the 3rd place trophy but also means he qualifies to play in the major section at the London event this Christmas. Well done, Harry!
Thank you very much to everyone who came down and participated in our second event of the Grand Prix season on Friday. It was a wonderful evening with some fantastic chess from great players. Congratulations to the evening’s winners Janis and Andrew! Hope to see you all at our next event on November 15th.
Report by Bill Tracey:
At the recent Sussex University Congress five members of our club took part.
In the Open section Luke Chapman was our only entrant and he had an excellent tournament.
Luke was rated 20th in the starting line up but finished with 3.5 points and in a tie for 6th place.
His only loss was in the first round to an IM who went on to win the event.
In the U1600 event we had four entrants Lawry Rhodes, Harry Morter, Noah Pearson and myself.
Harry had a decent first day with 1.5 from 3. His second day was challenging as in his two games he faced the second and third seeds and, despite fighting well in both games he eventually lost both.
I had a disastrous first day, managing to lose all three despite being in commanding positions in two of them. I had a better second day and managed to win both of my games.
Noah and Lawry both had very strong performances with only one loss each from their five games.
They each gained 3.5 points and finished joint 3rd.
