Author: veutilep

Chess on the beach 2024! What a wonderful day! Thank you so much to everyone who came and made the day so special! Well done to this years Bughouse cup champions – ‘The Knights of the square table’ – Tadeusz Tompsett and Zebediah Taylor, and to this years Beach blitz champion – Mark Rich!
Full report and all the results will be up on the website early next week.

On Friday 26th July, Bexhill hosted Hastings in our annual match.

The match was a 9-a-side affair with a time control of one hour plus an increment of ten seconds.
On paper the two teams seemed well matched and in reality this proved to be the case.

Our team, in board order, was Andrew Fleming, James Lumsden, Leo Woning, John Kimber, Bill Luxton, Steve Merchant, Michael Hayward, Lawry Rhodes and Harry Morter.

Bexhill took an early lead with wins by Steve, Harry and Bill. Hastings then registered a win on board 3
but a win by Michael and a draw by Lawry put us in a very strong position needing just a half point from the final 3 games. All 3 games seemed to be very close, but on board 1 and 3 Hastings played very well to gain wins, but a draw on board 2 was sufficient for Bexhill to claim a win by 5 to 4.

My thanks to all members who volunteered to play and my apologies to those who did not get a game.

Special mention must go to 11 year old Harry Morter, playing his first match for the senior section of the club, he played superbly to claim an overwhelming victory, hopefully just the first of many more for the club.

Well done to all the Bexhill members who battled it out recently at the Kent congress. Here is a report from our chairman Bill Tracey:

On the weekend of 19th – 21st July 6 club members took part in The Tunbridge Wells Congress.

In the U1900 section our entrants were Bill Luxton, Michael Hayward and Luke Chapman and in the U1600 we had Noah Pearson, Rose Burgess and myself.

In the U1900 Michael fought hard in all of his games and finished with 2 points. Luke likewise competed very well and finished on 2.5 points. Bill really performed very well as, despite being out rated in each of his 5 games, he gained 3 points losing only 1 game.

In the U1600 section Noah performed exceptionally well. Playing in his first competition of this type he won his first match against an opponent rated 560 points higher! He then got a draw against an opponent rated 650 points higher. In the end he finished with 2.5 points finishing in 11th place despite starting as the 24th ranked competitor.

Rose had a great competition, starting as the 16th ranked player, she gained 3.5 points and eventually finished 3rd.

I had a decent competition. For my last match I played the competition leader. He had half a point more than me so I needed a win. I pushed very hard turning down a draw offer after 26 moves. I kept pushing but after 3 hours and 35 minutes made an error and resigned. I finally finished on 3 points.

This is a very well run competition in an excellent venue and I would recommend it to our members for next year.

The booking system is now up and running for chess on the beach! Remember, if you just want to play casual chess, there is no charge and no need to book. Just come along and have fun! But if you want to play in either the Bughouse cup or the Beach Blitz, you can book online now. We will be taking entries on the day if spaces remain, but numbers are limited so book early to avoid disappointment!
https://bookwhen.com/bexhillchessclub

A few photos from our prize giving the other night for our Grand Prix season of events. In order: Mark Rich (Overall winner), Janis Petersons (3rd place overall), Bill Luxton (U1800 winner), Steve Merchant (U1600 winner), Mike Chapman (Unrated 3rd place), Sebastian Merchant (U1400 3rd place) and Harry Morter (U1400 2nd place.)

Congratulations to Harry Morter who was the winner of this years Junior Handicap tournament! Well done, Harry!

On Friday evening we held our annual Blitz competition. Congratulations to this year’s winner, Mark Rich.

Noah and Rose travelled up to Nottingham for the National Junior Chess Championships on 5th January. A highly competitive 3 day FIDE event with a packed schedule including ongoing training and analysis with FIDE trainers and titled coaches; the pair from Bexhill had a fantastic weekend.

Noah was in the U10s and came away with 3.5 points, Rose was in the U14 section and finished the weekend on 2.5 points.

On Saturday night, the organisers hosted 4 simul games which Rose took part in; selecting to play against IM Lorin D’Costa, coach for the England Women’s Team and a challenge she had been looking forward to for 3 years.

She was very happy to be the last player in the hall, battling for 2 hours 45 mins and coming away with a draw.

Rose also won a training prize of £50

Both of our juniors are looking forward to next year already. A highly recommended weekend.

Last friday saw our 8th and final Grand Prix event of the season. Thank you to everyone who turned up to support this and all our events. Full results for this event, can be found below.

Full results for the season our now up on the Grand Prix page.