bexhillchessclub.co.uk
That’s it folks! We are now fully booked for the rapid tournament this weekend. Thank you to everyone who has entered for supporting this event! The line up looks fantastic and we are very much looking forward to some epic chess battles and hopefully a lot of fun this weekend!!
Match report from our Captain Bill Tracey:
On Friday 4th November, Bexhill 2 hosted Worthing’s second team.
We expected a tough match as they are probably the strongest club in the league and our expectations proved correct.
The final score was Worthing 3.5 Bexhill .5.
However, after 2.5 hours of the match any result was still possible, as the match proved to be far closer than the score line suggests.
I was first to finish on board 4 and managed to gain a draw from what at one point looked a difficult position.
On board 3, Bill Luxton was in a very evenly contested game and both players ended up with 5 pawns each. Unfortunately for Bill, his opponent had the last pawn move and Bill was forced to move his King from the defence of a pawn and the game was lost.
On board 2 the game reached a point where Leo was up 3 pawns and a rook to 2 pawns and a rook but just one wrong pawn move allowed his opponent to gain a win from what had seemed a very promising position for Leo.
On Board one John was playing a very highly rated young player. John played extremely well to go up a pawn in the middle game, but his opponent fought back well and by the end game material was all square at 5 pawns and a rook each. Unfortunately, John made one wrong move and his opponent was able to secure a win.
So what could potentially have been a 2 all draw became a heavy loss.
One consolation is that Worthing 2 are quite likely to be the highest rated team in the Division.
There are only 5 spaces left for our rapid tournament at the town hall next weekend. So if you were hoping to play, book in quickly to avoid disappointment!
This weekend, eight players from Bexhill travelled to Sevenoaks to play in the first Kentish FiDe rapidplay.
The event was divided into three sections; The open, under 1800 and under 1600.
The under 1800 section was won by Anh (Andy) Nguyen with an impressive 6 from 6! Bill Tracey managed to pick up 2.5 from his 6 games, Bill Luxton finished on 2, and Steve Merchant (who chose to play up despite being eligible to play in the lower section) finished on 1.5.
In the under 1600 section, Rose Burgess managed to bring home 2 points. Luke Chapman finished with 3 points. Samuel Merchant managed to get 3 and a half, finishing in 17th place, and finally Sebastian Merchant had a great day, finishing in joint 4th with 4.5 points and taking home £20 with a share of the U1340 grading prize.
Well done to all our players and many thanks to Jo Wildman, Adam Raoof and the team for organising the event.
Friday 15th October saw Bexhill 3 host Worthing 3 in the first Division 3 match of the season.
Worthing are the strongest club in the Mid Sussex Leagues and we expected them to field a powerful side, which they duly did.
On board 1 Steve Merchant was up against a player rated 375 points higher than himself and had the black pieces. Analysis showed that going into the end game Steve had a 2 point lead, but unfortunately played the wrong line and his opponent duly took advantage to record a win for Worthing.
Board 2 saw Bill Luxton making his league debut for us. His opponent made an error on move 14 which Bill capitalised on immediately and his opponent was forced to resign a few moves later.
Board 3 Saw Phil Swain also making his league debut. Phil played very solidly to gain a draw. It seemed that Phil may have had a slight edge at this point but with the final game looking like a certain win Phil made a good decision for the team to take a half.
On board 4 we had another player making his league debut.Alfie Reed only started to learn to play Chess 7 months ago and has made remarkable progress since. He played a very effective game and had established a 3 pawn advantage when he forced a resignation from the Worthing captain.
The Worthing team had an average rating of 1672 and, it is unlikely, that any other team in this division will have such a high average.
An excellent start for the team which bodes well for the season.
Congratulations to the Juniors who played at the second Grand Prix of the Sussex county season at Worth this weekend. A fantastic venue and some great chess!
Well done to Alise Petersone who scored an impressive 3.5 from 6 in the under 18 minor section. Rose Burgess took home the trophy for top girl with 3 from 6 in the Under 12’s. Sebastian Merchant came joint third in the under 18 minors with 4 points, Luke Chapman came joint third with 4 points in the under 12s, and Samuel Merchant scored 5.5 from 6 and shared first place in the under 10s.
The under 8s, 10s and 12s sections were qualifiers for the prestigious London Junior chess championships that will take place in December, so congratulations also to Luke and Samuel who both qualify!
Well done Juniors!! 🎊🎉💪🏻
Our next upcoming tournament will be our annual one day rapid tournament. This year we are very kindly being hosted by the local council and we will be playing in the main chambers of our beautiful town hall!
The tournament will consist of 6 rounds of 25+5. There will be two sections; a main tournament and a challengers section for those with a lower rating or new to tournament chess. We have lots of cash prizes and trophies available including grading prizes, top junior and top Bexhill player. We expect the cut off for the lower section to be around 1400ECF though we will confirm this nearer the time.
Due to the size of the venue, we have had to cap entries at a maximum of 60 players. First come, first served. Tickets are available now at:
The following is a match report from our chairman, Bill Tracey:
The annual friendly match between Bexhill and Hastings took place today 01/10/2022 at the famous Hastings club.
Bexhill has been very successful in recent years in this annual fixture and, quite rightfully Hastings had informed us that they were going to field a stronger team on this occasion. This they did, and, due to some late withdrawals, they were forced to field some very strong players on the lower boards which presented us with a mammoth task.
The final score was 8.5 to 4.5 in Hastings favour. However this score line does not tell the full story.
On the top 6 boards we matched Hastings 3 all which is very encouraging with the Mid Sussex league matches coming up. It was no surprise that our lower order found the going tough when the ratings showed that their board 13 out rated our board 7!
The individual performances were as follows:
Board 1 Andrew fought long and hard against a formidable opponent and it seemed as though a win was possible, but his opponent found several very strong moves and managed to gain the win.
Board 2 Janis played a very experienced and highly rated opponent [2058] and produced some excellent chess and his opponent was forced to resign.
Board 3 Leo had a long tough match and at one point seemed to have a very potent attack going but his opponent defended very well and eventually came out on top.
Board 4 Derek ended up in a very even end game but one poor movemeant that he had to resign.
Board 5 Phil was playing only his second game for the club and what a game he played. He gradually got the upper hand and his 1928 rated opponent was forced to resign.
Board 6 Bill Luxton was playing his first match for the club and recorded an excellent victory against another highly rated opponent [1931] he was on the verge of promoting a pawn and a resignation was conceded.
Board 7 My opponent was also highly rated at 1910 and we had a really close game. I was considering one of 2 moves when I chose the wrong one and mate in 2 resulted. Chatting afterwards he said he would have offered a draw if I had chosen the other move!
Board 8 Alan played confidently from the start and earned a good draw against the Hastings captain.
Board 9 David fought to the end, but had to finally concede to a promising young player.
Board 10 As a result of the late changes to the Hastings team Tony found himself playing someone rated about 300 points higher and this proved to big a hill to climb..
Board 11 Nick played the captain of Hastings 2nd team and a close match developed but his opponent gradually got the upper hand for another Hastings win.
Board 12 Mike Lambert was playing a very seasoned campaigner and after a close fought game earnt an excellent win.
Board 13 Alfie ended up playing someone as earlier mentioned higher rated than our board 7! Despite losing he acquitted himself really well to the point that his opponent could hardly believe that Alfie had only been playing for about 6 months.
Many thanks to all our team who continue to make my job an easy one by volunteering to play and turning up without fail.
Also many thanks to Steve Blewitt for organising the Hasting’s team and to the Hastings club for their hospitality.
Bill Tracey
Yesterday saw the clubs 126th AGM! It was an emotional meeting as our long time chairman Joe Sharp stood down after many years fine service. We are very pleased that Joe will be staying an active member of the club. We welcome Bill Tracey as our new chairman.
The whole club offers their heartfelt thanks and best wishes to Joe.
Congratulations to this years Gordon cup winner; Sebastian Merchant. The second youngest player to win the cup at the age of 12. (Surpassed only by Batuhan Kaya who won it aged 11 in 2015.)
Bexhill Gordon cup winner 2022!