This weekend Bexhill chess club hosted the sussex under 11 squad. @sussexjuniorchess A big thank-you to everyone who made it such a wonderful day. There was some excellent chess played. It was especially nice to see an age gap of over 60 years on some boards.
The final score was 8.5/5.5 to Bexhill. Special thanks to Mark Rich for performing some excellent analysis.
Sussex juniors would like to thank @thesourcepark for hosting their team-building event afterwards. It was well organised and all the kids had a wonderful time.
Many of our members have been participating in the Hastings International congress over at Horntye over the last few weeks.
As reported earlier this week, the Christmas under 1950 tournament was won by Bexhill’s’ Andy Nguyen with 5/6. Also playing in this section was Leo Woning and Michael Hayward, Leo playing well and finishing on 3/6 and Michal finishing just behind on 2/6. In the Christmas under 1650, Lawrie Rhodes finished joint seventh with 3 and a half out of 6. Bill Tracey was just behind on 3/6. In the new year AM under 2000, Michael Hayward faced some stiff competition but managed 3 draws to finish on 1.5/5. In the new year AM under 1800, Bill Luxton scored 2/5 with a win and two draws. In the new year PM under 1900, Leo finished joint fifth with 3/5, Steve Blewitt just behind in joint eighth with 2.5/5. In the new year PM under 1700, Lawrie fantastically came joint top with 4/5. Bill Tracey got 2.5/5 coming joint 12th.
Finally, the congress concluded with the weekend tournaments. In the weekend open, Andy scored 2.5/5. In the weekend Intermediate, Bill Luxton came joint fifth with 3.5/5. Steve Merchant scored 2.5/5 and Bill Tracey, with some very unlucky draws, finished on 1/5. In the weekend Minor section, Luke Chapman came joint second with 4/5, Samuel Merchant scored 2.5/5 and Sebastian merchant scored 2/5.
Our Bexhill juniors were kicking off 2024 in style with some amazing chess at the SJC 4th Grand Prix of the season in Hastings, running alongside the International congress on January 1st. In the under 11 minor section, Eszter scored 3/6 and took home the top girl trophy! Zac, playing in his very first sussex event finished on 3.5 from 6! Amazing! But dominating the section, with a super 5/6 was our very own Noah! Well done Noah!! Harry and Timmy were playing in the under 11 major section and both had solid days finishing with 3.5 and 3 respectively. Sebastian Merchant took 4/6 in the under 18 minor section and won third place! Finally, in the under 18 major section were Rose, Sam and Luke. Rose scored 1.5, every point a hard fought for celebration in this incredibly tough section. Sam managed 2.5 from 6. But the superstar of the day was our very own Luke, with 4 wins and 2 draws, finished the day unbeaten on 5/6 and won the section!! An incredible achievement that included a win against the Sussex superstar Henry Adams (ECF 1941A)!! Well deserved Luke! We are all so happy for you and so very proud! An incredible day for our wonderful group of juniors! Hopefully a sign of things to come this year for our group of chess stars!
Many congratulations to Bexhill superstar Andy Nguyen who won the U1950 section of the Xmas tournament at the Hastings International Chess Congress! Well done, Andy!
Congratulations to all the Bexhill members who competed in London over the holidays. The LJCC is regarded as the toughest event in the junior chess calendar. You must qualify to play with a strong performance at a qualifying tournament and only the best of the best make the finals. It all kicked off the week before Xmas with the under 10s and the under 14s. Noah made his first National outing competing in the Under 10 minor section. He finished on a fantastic 3.5 from 7. Amazing Noah! Luke competed in the incredibly tough under 14 major section. He finished on 2.5 from 6. Just missing out on his England half norm by one point. The fun continued between Xmas and new year. Steve Merchant played his first outing in the major section of the Christmas congress. He started badly, but came back strong and finished on 2.5 from 6. Sebastian and Sharon both played in the under 1600 minor section of the same tournament. Sebastian finished joint 6th with 3.5 from 6, and Sharon finished on 2 from 6. Rose and Harry both played in the Under 12 minor section and Samuel played in the Under 12 major section. Both were gruelling 9 classical games over three days. Harry, in his first standard play tournament achieved a wonderful score of 5/9. Rose scored 6.5/9 and just missed out on a top 3 trophy coming 4th. But she did bring home the ‘Top girl’ trophy! Well done Rose!
Finally Samuel, had an epic battle and scored 5/9 in the majors earning him his second half norm of the season qualifying to go to the England Junior trials in April. Well done Sam! Super proud of all our Bexhill juniors representing your club honourably and making us all incredibly proud! Special thanks to all the parents who give up their weekend and holidays to support their kids. You are all the best!
Our team in board order was Michael Hayward, Sam, Seb and Sharon.
Michael faced an opponent rated 180 points higher than himself and for much of the game was under a great deal of pressure. However, despite time pressure Michael continued to find the right defensive moves and eventually turns the tables on his opponent and emerged victorious.
Sam and Seb put up strong resistance but eventually the experience of their opponents proved decisive and each had to resign.
Sharon on 4 played a tremendous game finding many excellent moves whilst under massive time pressure. Eventually in what looked like a very drawable position Sharon’s time ran out..
Hastings are now 4 from 4 in the league and already looking as strong favourite for the title, so although this match was lost 3 to 1 the team can feel proud of their efforts.
One of the reasons for us entering 4 teams in the Sussex Leagues was to give inexperienced players the chance to play competitive Chess against strong and experienced players.
This match provided exactly that scenario, as we had two members playing for the first time one playing his second game and one his third.
Luke had the challenge of playing board one and gave a very good account of himself against a very tough opponent. Although he lost he can be very proud of his effort.
The same can be said of Jo, Ed and Mike on 2, 3 and 4 who were all playing vastly more experienced opponents. Each played well but in the end the final score was:
Last night also saw our main social event of the year… the Christmas party! This included some puzzle challenges, our award ceremony for the years events and a fun Christmas quiz, as well as some very tasty food! Thank you to our chairman Bill Tracey for organising. Special thanks also to his sister for preparing the quiz.
The awards presented were as follows:
Rapid challengers winner: Luke Chapman. Time Handicap winner: Mark Rich. Rapid championship winner: Janis Petersons. Bexhill Blitz winner: Mark Rich. Gordon Cup winner: Sharon Merchant. Club championship winner: Mark Rich. League player of the year: Jointly awarded to Andrew Fleming and Bill Luxton. Award for Outstanding contribution to the club: John Kimber.
A special mention for our Gordon cup winner: Sharon Merchant, who according to our records, is the first female winner of a Bexhill Chess Club trophy in the 127 year history of the club.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to our Junior Christmas party last night! It was a lot of fun! Wishing you all a very merry Christmas! Thank you for all the chess fun in 2023! Look forward to seeing you all back for more chess adventures next year! Junior meetings will resume on Friday January 5th, 2024!
Many congratulations to our two Bexhill Juniors Rose and Eszter who both played fantastically in the Sussex Girls closed championships last weekend in Burgess Hill. Rose lost only to the over all winner and runner up of the under 18 section and finished in 3rd place. She was also the highest finishing under 14 player. Eszter was playing in the Under 11 section and took home the trophy for being the highest finishing under 9 player. Well done girls! Both fantastic achievements!
