bexhillchessclub.co.uk

Author: Lawrence Rhodes

  • Christmas party!

    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.

  • Junior Xmas party!

    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!

  • Girls battle in Burgess Hill

    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!

  • Grand Prix 2!

    Thanks to everyone who came and played in our second Grand Prix of the season. Full results are now up, including the current Grand Prix standings over on the Grand Prix page here:

  • Match report

    Bexhill 4 had a very successful trip over to Eastbourne. Three of the Merchants and Alan took on Eastbourne’s fifth team.
    On board 1, Alan finished quickly, pinning his opponents queen to checkmate and putting the first point on the board for Bexhill. Sharon on board 4 was next to finish. After some initial pressure coming out the opening, Sharon launched a devastating king side attack and her opponent was forced to resign.

    Next to finish was Sam on board 2. He went into a tricky rook and pawn endgame a pawn up, and managed to see it home.

    Last to finish was Sebastian on board 3. He was playing another very strong Sussex junior and they were the last to finish, battling it out late into the night as the clocks ran low. Sebastian was up an exchange but down a few pawns. His opponent played very well, and the pressure of the pawn assault was too much, and finally Seb had to resign.

    Overall, a 3 – 1 victory for Bexhill 4.

  • Match report

    We travelled to the University knowing that we had a big challenge on our hands and what followed was one of the best performances by any Bexhill team since we entered the Leagues 4 years ago.

    First to finish was Alan on board 3. Taking on an opponent outrating him by 180 points, he played a very solid game which ended in a draw.

    I was on board  and, my opponent out rated me by 220 points.

    We played a very evenly balanced game and, after 35 moves I offered a draw. He thought for several minutes and, rather reluctantly, he agreed. Analysis showed the final position to be level.

    Steve Merchant on board 1  was next to finish.

    Steve played exceptionally well to really outplay an opponent rated 167 points higher.

    Eventually with Steve very well on top his opponent resigned.

    On 4 Jo continued his recent fine form and recorded a fine win.

    Sussex University 1     1        Bexhill 3      3

  • Match report

    This match was a fine effort by our third team against the 2nd team of one of the leading clubs in the County.

    On board 1  Steve Merchant came very close to winning his game against an opponent rated 160 points higher, but eventually he was forced to resign.

    On board 2 I played an opponent out rating me by 220 points. Our game was a long tight game and eventually a draw was agreed.

    On board 3 Lawry giving away 180 points competed well but the game got away from him and he eventually resigned.

    On board 4 our very promising junior Luke  played a fine game and looked to have an edge but his opponent managed to engineer a 3 fold repetition for a draw.

    Bexhill 3     1    Brighton  2     3

  • Match report

    On Tuesday 31st October we made the long journey to Horsham to take on Collyers 6th Form College.

    Janis on board 1 played a fine game against a higher rated opponent to win his game.

    On board 2 Bill fought hard and gained a good draw against a promising young player.

    On board 3 Michael Hayward did his part with a solid draw.

    Unfortunately on board 4 I played one of my worst ever openings and was down a Bishop after 7 moves!  My young opponent went on to play very well and eventually I had to resign.

    Collyers 6th Form College 1      2     Bexhill 2      2

  • Match report

    This was a tight match against local rivals Eastbourne.

    The teams were well matched in terms of ratings and the games reflected this.

    On board 1 Janis earned a draw against a vastly experienced opponent.

    On board 2 Bill Luxton   just came up short against a very resilliant opponent..

    On board 3 Alan attacked hard from the start, but his opponent was able to find the right moves at the right time and eventually Alan had to resign.

    On board 4 Lawry played very well to gain his first win for the club.

    Final score Eastbourne 3   2.5   Bexhill 2     1.5

  • Juniors head to Eastbourne for the third Grand Prix of the Sussex season

    Congratulations to our Bexhill Juniors who had a great day out last weekend at the third Sussex Junior Chess Grand Prix of the season. (@sussexjuniorchess ) 9 of our juniors competed and every one of them did us proud!
    Special mention goes to Eszter who scored a fantastic 2.5/6 in her first tournament and picked up an arbiters award. Timmy Nguyen scored a whopping 6 out of 6 and took home the Under 11 minor trophy! Amazing! Noah also had a great day, narrowly missing out on a top three spot but taking home the top under 9 trophy! Andy scored 4/6 in the U18 major section sharing third place. Sebastian Merchant, after a slow start to the day, finished strong on 4.5 from 6 and shared third place in the under 18 minor section.
    Well done everyone!