Author: Lawrence Rhodes

Friday 17 July

Results table from Michael Hayward – with thanks:

Congratulations to Howard and James on terrific scores in a very strong field.

ENTRIES NOW OPEN – PLEASE GO TO ‘OUR EVENTS’ ‘ PAGE on the PAGES MENU FOR FULL TOURNAMENT DETAILS, ENTRY INFORMATION, AND REQUIREMENTS, FACILITIES ETC

AND BEXHILL CLUB MEMBERS – GET SOME PRACTICE IN AT OUR UPCOMING CLUB RAPID CHAMPIONSHIP THIS FRIDAY 31 JULY !

Friday 26 June 2026

Results Table below, from Michael Hayward :

CHESS 960 THIS FRIDAY 10 JULY

Here is Chairman Bill Tracey’s update on Chess 960 and other summer events. Check our calendar if in doubt. :

” On Friday 10 July the club will be holding,for the 1st time, a 960 event.

There will be four rounds with a time control of 15 minutes plus 5 second increments.

In 960 chess the pawns start in their normal position but the major pieces will be in different positions.

Each round will have a different arrangement.

There maybe as few as 2 pieces off there normal starting position or there could be several.

There are no prizes for this event.

Looking a bit further ahead, on Friday 25th of September we will be hosting a rapid event open to not just our members but to players from outside the club.

There will be 6 rounds of 10 minutes with no increments.

Entry will cost £10 payable on the night in cash.

There will be cash prizes for 1st,2nd and 3rd as well as trophies/ medals for the top three.In addition there will be at least two cash prizes for rating performances.

As this is a rated open event all entrants will need to ECF members of at least gold level.

If you would like to enter please let me ( Bill) know.

Our AGM will be held at the club on Friday 11th September at 7.30. Please try to attend to support the club on this important evening. There will be time for social chess.

Finally on Friday 2nd October we will be hosting Hastings in our annual match.

This will be a long play event and open to all our members.

Please let me (Bill) know if you would like to play.

Bill’s email is : w.tracey@sky.com

5th Sussex University Tournament

Message from Paul Batchelor :

An upcoming event!

Dear all,

As President of the Sussex Association, it is my pleasure to publicise local chess events. The Sussex University Chess Festival is one such event. All standards may participate in the various categories for competitive play. Please, could you circulate news of this event to players and fellow club members alike. I can only hope this event gets the support it richly deserves. Please, see below for details

https://sites.google.com/site/sussexcca/announcements

Friday 19 June saw 18 players battle for the Annual Blitz Tournament title

The outright winner was Luke Chapman on 4.5/5- pictured below receiving the trophy from Chairman Bill Tracey.

..And watch out for further successes in a decisive year for our talented star player, not only at our club, but also in the Hastings Club championship, and the forthcoming British Championship ! at the University of Warwick in July where he has been selected for the top section. A further article on this site will have more of the story in advance of the British.

Meanwhile, runners up, after a post- tournament correction of one result for Oliver Kuzmanoski , were Mark Rich and Oliver on 4/5

Her is Mark collecting his award.

In joint 3rd place were Jonathan Mfuso (his first and undoubtedly not his last award at the club) :

and Howard Tebbs, pictured below – each on 3.5/5.

Michael Hayward , once again providing an excellent service as tournament controller ( thank you Michael!) , also managed an excellent score of 3/5 alongside Andrew Fleming. Steve Blewitt and Lee Stewartson – also impressing on his recent emergence in club competitions.

Bill Luxton and Alan Ticehurst achieved a solid 2.5 /5 .Harry Morter made 2/5 as did Lawry Rhodes..

Jon James finished on 1.5.

Bill Tracey ( after generously correcting his result with Oliver) finished on 1/5 , alongside Mick Sullivan.

Tony Nash and young Kit Brampton ( on his very first club meeting, bravely playing 4 of the rounds) did not manage a point in this very strong field, but they both fought hard throughout and played good chess.

DON’T FORGET IT IS :

Grand Prix 3 this Friday 26 June

u-14 successes in 2026 Butler Cup Finals

On Tuesday 9 June, Bexhill Academy students, including 4 who are members of our club, competed in the u-14 Schools’ team championship finals at Windlesham House.

Bexhill Academy entered 2 teams, but neither had been pre-selected for Division 1, so the prestigious Butler Cup they won last year had to be returned. Nevertheless Bexhill’s 1st team won Division 2 and collected a trophy. Our juniors performed exceptionally well ;Andy Nguyen 3/3, Harry Morter 2/3, Isaac Jennings 2/3. The 4th team member who ( along with Isaac and Daniel below) has been playing regularly at the Academy chess club, Jonah Jerins scored 3/3. Andy said afterwards : ” We made a clean sweep in the first two rounds. Losses in round 3 put Harry and I in a must-win situation, but we did it.”

Juniors at the Academy are improving in play such that this year a second team was entered in Division 4 and they took a 2nd place trophy. Daniel Johnson scored 1/3, Maksim Burokas 1/3, Liam Bibin 2/3 and Ebu Udi 1/3. Liam said afterwards: “It was hard, but I enjoyed it. Somehow I beat 2 players. ”

Winner on Friday 5 June was Bill Luxton on 3.5/4 Congratulations!

Full results table from Michael Hayward who again worked tirelessly on the results and the draw for each round as well as setting up, locking up and basically everything!!

A BIG THANK YOU FROM US ALL

Excellent performances also from James Lumsden and Jonathan Mfula both on 3/4 and a noteworthy effort from Harry Morter on 2.5/4.

See our previous News page article or go to our Bexhill Grand Prix page for forthcoming tournaments 2 to 6 for dates – the next one is Friday June 5. Our Calendar page also has the dates of these events plus more of this year’s events just announced by our Chairman Bill Tracey after the recent committee meeting and planning with our tournaments organizer Michael Hayward. It’s quite an ambitious catalogue of varied sessions to keep us engaged in chess throughout the traditionally quiet summer timetable. Here is Bill’s latest update.

” Hi All

Following our committee meeting this week I am pleased to announce the full schedule of summer events.

The following are in addition to our Grand Prix events which are already posted on our website.

June19th Blitz. This will be 6 rounds of quick fire Chess with a time control of 5 minutes plus 2 seconds increments.

July 10th 960 Chess .In this form of chess the pawns start in their normal position but the major pieces will be arranged differently to how they would normally be. This means that opening theory is largely irrelevant. There will be 4 rounds with different starting positions in each. Time control will be 15 minutes plus 5 seconds increments.

July 31st. Our club championship in Rapid will take place with 5 rounds with a time control of 10 minutes plus 3 seconds increments.

August 14th Time Handicap. In this format the stronger player in each game will have less time than their opponent. The difference depends on the gap in ratings but could be as much as 9 minutes. There will be 5 rounds.

September 4th. A simultaneous exhibition will take place where our very talented junior  Luke Chapman will take on all comers. It is likely that he will play 20 to 25 people at the same time. There will be no time control other than the total time for the event will be 2.5 hours.

September 25th. We have decided to run a rapid tournament open to all the clubs in Sussex. It will have 5 rounds with a time control of 10 minutes plus 3 seconds. There will be an entry fee of £10 all of which will be used as prize money. This event will be restricted to people aged 18 and over.

Hopefully as many members as possible will take part in some or all of these events, but we do recognise that fast play is not for every one so if you do not fancy playing on any given evening you will be very welcome to play social chess.

Hope to see you at these events.

Bill “

The first of this season’s BCC Grand Prix result from Friday 15 May has been uploaded on this site’s dedicated page.

Please click there for details., and future event dates on our 2026-2027 Calendar

Congratulations to James Lumsden and Oliver Kuzmanoski for excellent performances.

Well done to our junior contingent including newcomers, Isaac and Daniel Johnson

Don’t miss our next Grand Prix (2) on 5 June.