bexhillchessclub.co.uk

Author: Lawrence Rhodes

  • Bexhill Rapid 2023

    Bexhill rapid 23

    On Sat 18th november, sleepy Bexhill on sea was once again descended upon by some of the best chess players in the county and beyond. Players young and old were locked in fierce combat for 6 grueling rounds of intense rapidplay chess.

    By the time the winners were announced some 8 hours after the battles began, new friends were made, new champions were crowned but sadly, some had fallen by the wayside.

    All results and plenty of photos can be found  below, Bexhill Chess Club would like to thank each and every one of the players and supporters for making the day so successful and we look forward to seeing you all again next year!

    Bexhill Rapid 2023 winner: Ilya Iyengar 5.5/6

    2nd place: Andrew McGettigan and Gavin Knott 5/6

    Top Senior: John Sugden 4.5/6

    Top Junior: Tobias Taylor 4/6

    Top Bexhill player: Anh Nguyen 4.5/6

    Top Under 1900: David Fryer 3.5/6

    Top Under 1820: Richard Welford and Janis Petersons 4/6

    Top Under 1550: Hal Gomez, Aditya Gupta, Samuel Merchant 3/6

    Bexhill Challengers winner: Aidan Burnside 5/6

    2nd place: Rose Burgess 5/6

    3rd place: George Taylor 4.5/6

    Top under 18: Sebastian Merchant 3/6

    Top under 12: Harry Morter 3.5/6

    For all the photos, see the main report here.

  • Bexhill juniors at the national team championships

    On the fourth of November, five of our Bexhill juniors set out for a
    tough battle; they were to play for Sussex teams in the National Youth Chess Association Junior Team Championships in Oxford.

    In the U18 team, Sebastian scored 2.5 from 3 on board 5; a very
    impressive result against strong players. He also was awarded star player. Then for the U14 team, Luke Chapman scored 2.5 on board 1 against some strong opponents.

    Finally, in the U12 team, Andy and Sam on boards 1 and 2 both scored 1.5 from 3. On board 6, Rose won all her three games resulting in a Sussex U12 team second place finish and, for Rose, a star player award.

    Thank you to all our parents for their driving and support.

    Congratulations to the U12s, and a huge thank you to Steve Merchant for helping organise another brilliant day of chess for Bexhill juniors – 11 points from 15 games!

    (Luke Chapman)

  • Match report

    Our team in board order was Mark, Anh, Michael and Lawry.

    The evening produced 4 really long and hard fought games
    On board 4 Lawry fought really well after a challenging opening
    which left him a pawn down. He managed to win an exchange but
    his opponent had a very strong central pawn mass which eventually proved decisive.

    On board 3 Michael and his opponent both were under immense time control
    with his opponent at one time down to a mere 2 seconds! However Michael
    was also playing on his increment and eventually his time ran out.
    This was still a very fine effort from Michael as he was giving away 280 points to his opponent.

    Mark on board 1 was playing his first league match of the season and it also was a long and well contested game. Mark eventually wore down his opponent and thus gained our first point of the night.

    Anh on board 2 was matched against another very strong junior some 5 years his senior.
    Anh fought hard and despite looking as though the end game looked to favour his opponent, Anh stayed cool and calm and secured a well earned draw.

  • Match report

    The 1st home match of the season for our 1st team saw Bexhill take on Brighton.

    Our team, in board order was Anh, Andrew, Bill Luxton and Michael Hayward.

    As is often the case we were heavily out rated for this match against last years
    Division 1 champions. This time by over 950 points!
    Michael and Bill put up stout resistance but eventually both had to concede defeat.

    Andrew on board 2 played a fine game and was never in trouble against an opponent
    rated 200 points higher. In the end a draw was agreed.

    Anh on 1 was once again pitched against an opponent of the highest standard rated at 2244.
    A game of almost three hours and of very high quality ensued.
    With the maximum playing time of 3 hours and 10 minutes nearly up the two players agreed a draw.
    So once again a great effort by Anh who continues to display match skills way beyond his years.

  • Match report

    Our first home fixture of the season saw our 2nd team take on our 3rd team in Division 2.

    Our 2nd team , in board order, was Janis, Lawrie, Bill Luxton and Steve Merchant.

    Our 3rd team, in board order, was Bill Tracey, Lawrie, Luke and Michael Hayward.

    Janis and I were first to finish. Janis got on top after 10 moves and kept the pressure on
    until , with checkmate imminent, I resigned.

    Michael and Steve played a very impressive short game on board 4, with both players achieving a computer rating of 98% before agreeing a draw.

    On board 2 Steve managed to go ahead by a knight to 2 pawns and this proved vital. Lawrie battled hard but eventually had to resign.

    On board 3 Luke and Bill had a fine game. Luke was able to gain an edge in a rooks and pawns endgame and, with two strong passed pawns looking unstoppable, Bill resigned.

  • Match report

    This was always destined to be a daunting task for us as Haywards Heath have a strong team
    lead by a player who has been Sussex champion on more than one occasion.

    Our team, in board order, was Anh Nguyen, Andrew Fleming, Steve Merchant and Bill Tracey.
    Steve was first to finish, he won a piece in the middle game and then played very solidly until
    his opponent had no choice other than to resign. A fine win against an opponent rated 153 points higher.

    I was next to finish. My opponent and I both played a solid, if not spectacular game, and agreed a draw in what was a very closed position.I was quite pleased as he out rated me by 165 points.

    Andrew was next to finish. He seemed to have the game well under control , a passed pawn up and with the bishop pair, but his opponent found a trick and was going to win material, leaving Andrew with little choice other than to resign.

    This left 12 year old Anh on board one, giving away 338 rating points, to try to get the result for Bexhill.
    This he quite magnificently did by going into the end game with a small advantage and then proceeding to out play his illustrious opponent until he was 4 pawns to 1 ahead with both players having a rook and and a knight each. There was no way to stop one of Anh’s passed pawns and so his opponent resigned.

  • Match report

    The first league match of the 2023/4 season for Bexhill was an away fixture on Monday 9th October
    to play Worthing 2.

    Our team, in board order was Michael Hayward, Lawrence Rhodes, Alan Ticehurst and Jo Carthew.

    The match turned out to be close and well fought.
    Many congratulations to Jo, playing his first league game for the club who achieved a fine win.
    Lawrie, also playing his first match for the club, and Alan unfortunately both lost their games.
    Michael on board one played extremely well to gain a draw against a player ranked over one hundred points higher.

    Final score Worthing 2.5 Bexhill 1.5.

  • Bexhill juniors at Worth

    Bexhill juniors took a team of nine players to the Worth Grand Prix, everyone had a fantastic day and played some great chess. 

    In the U8’s we had Timmy Nguyen who scored an incredible 5/6 coming second!

    We’re looking forward to seeing how he performs in the U8 championship this weekend!

    In the U10’s we had Jaxson Foster and Noah Pearson both in their second ever tournament!

    Jaxson in fact played Noah in the second round. He won and finished on two points.

    Noah played the person who ended up winning the tournament in round 1 and was winning but made an unfortunate error under time pressure and lost but still managed to score 2 points.

    In the U12’s we had Samuel Merchant, Harry Morter and Rose Burgess.

    Harry won 3 points from 5 rounds and then got a draw in round 6 giving him a total of 3.5 points coming 5th and qualifying for the under twelves minor section at the London championships, as did Rose who got 3.5 points as well and the top girl trophy!

    Samuel got 5 from 5 and took a draw with Rose in the last round getting 5.5/6 and winning the section! Congratulations Sam!

    In the U18 minor there was Sebastian Merchant, who scored two and a half points.

    In the U18 major we had Luke Chapman and Andy Nguyen.

    In a very tough section, Luke scored 2 and Andy three and a half.

  • South of England junior championships

    Well done to our four juniors who travelled up to Yateley manor school this weekend for the South of England chess championships.
    Sebastian Merchant came down ill the night before the tournament. He bravely battled in the under 15 section but lost his first two games and had to take a bye in the last round of the first day. However he came back strong on day two, winning both his games and finishing on 2.5 in 14th place.
    Rose Burgess and Luke Chapman were both playing in the under 13 section. Rose scored 2 from 5 and Luke managed one more finishing on 3 from 5 in 6th position. Great results from an incredibly competitive section.
    Finally, Samuel Merchant was playing in the under 11 section. He had a great weekend and won 4 from 5, meaning he finished in joint second place and won a share of the prize money.
    Congratulations to you all!

  • Simul. with Mark Rich

    What a wonderful evening! Thank you to everyone who came down to Bexhill chess club this evening for our simul with Mark Rich! Mark is a national master (and super nice guy) and he very kindly offered to play in a simul. against any club members who were up for the challenge! He took on 22 players at once! And finished with a phenomenal score of 15 wins, 6 draws and 1 loss. Incredible! Thank you so much Mark for your time. It was an incredible experience to be a part of. We each played somewhere in the region of 30 moves, meaning Mark played around 660 moves!!! Many congratulations also to our lone winner, Lawrie! Well done!
    A wonderful evenings chess.