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.
Here is the report from our captain Bill Tracey on the League season 2022 to 2023.
For the 1st time, Bexhill entered 3 teams into the Mid Sussex Chess Leagues. Only 2 other clubs entered more than us with several entering only 1. This, I believe, is another powerful indication of how much stronger the club is becoming both in terms of member numbers and in playing strength.
A total of 17 members played for the club this season, including 8 new members.
I would like to thank all these members for making my job as team captain so easy.
Across the 3 divisions we played 27 matches which equates to 108 games, and, for each of these we had not a single drop out from any member who had committed to play.
From those 108 games 43 were wins 35 were draws and 30 were losses.
Our 1st team had the daunting prospect of playing in Division 1. This was always going to be a huge challenge and this was clearly shown when we were out rated in our first match against Brighton by1380 rating points! Despite this those who played for the 1st team did a fantastic job of keeping us in the top league. Although we finished in 7th place from 9 we only had a game point difference of only minus 6, this contrasts with the two teams below us with minus 16 and minus 13.
The two standout players were Andrew Fleming and Janis Petersons. They played all 9 matches, all bar one on boards 1 and 2 against the best players in the league and only lost 4 games from 18.. Janis scored 5 points and Andrew 4.5.
Our 2nd team played in Division 2 and despite the best efforts of the 10 members who played during the course of the season we finished 8th and hence are relegated. The story of the season was of several close matches that we lost by a point. Our game points difference was minus eight, meaning on average we lost by just under a point per match, so we were competitive in many of the matches but just came up short too often.
Our 3rd team in Division 3 had a fantastic season being unbeaten all season winning 8 matches and drawing one and thus winning the Division crown. Our game point difference was 28 to 8 with only 5 games resulting in a loss.
9 members played throughout the season including 5 new members.
Several players deserve a special mention, Alan Ticehurst with 4.5 from 5 points, Steve Merchant 5 from 7 Bill Tracey 5 from 7, Luke Chapman making his debut at the age of 12 and winning his first match for the club, but especially Bill Luxton who, in his first season for the club won 6 drew 2 and lost just one while playing 7 times on board one.
Next season, with the amount of members that have expressed an interest in playing, we are hoping to enter 4 teams. Please let me know if you wish to play next season.
The 17 members who played this season are Andrew Fleming, Janis Petersons, Steve Blewitt, John Kimber Leo Woning, Bill Luxton, Bill Tracey, Steve Merchant, Phil Swain, Alan Ticehurst, Alfie Reed, Luke Chapman, Michael Hayward, Sam Merchant, Mark Rich, Derek Cosens and Andy Nguyen.
The next season will start in October.
Bill Tracey
N.B. Bexhill chess club would like to express their gratitude to Bill Tracey for another season of excellent captaincy. Many thanks Bill. Your dedication and hard work is very much appreciated.
Thursday 20th April saw our 3rd team play their final team match of the season.
We travelled to Haywards Heath to take on their 2nd team. Our team, in board order was Bill L, Bill T, Alan and Derek.
Alan and I finished at almost the same moment.
My opponent played a dubious opening and I was able to establish a good position. This advantage was then greatly increased when he blundered his Queen! He played on for a few more moves but then resigned.
Alan had a very similar game as he too built a strong position, when his opponent blundered his Queen and a few moves later he resigned.
Bill on 1 was next to finish. Bill had a shocking journey to the venue, the Police had closed a road which meant his journey taking almost two hours, which caused him to arrive slightly late. I think that this clearly affected his opening, but he fought well in a difficult position and eventually accepted his opponents offer of a draw.
Derek was last to finish. He played very well against a determined opponent and eventually won by checkmate.
Final score Haywards Heath .5 Bexhill 3.5
This means that we have finished the league unbeaten with 8 wins and a draw.
Well done to all who played for the 3rd team this season.
A full report on all 3 league teams will be published shortly.
On Tuesday 18th, Bexhills 1st team made the short journey to Hastings to play their 1st team in our final league match.
Hastings, as expected, put out their strongest team as they are in with a chance of finishing 2nd in the league.
Our team, in board order was Andrew, Janis, Andy and Michael.
Janis was first to finish. He played the Dutch against his opponents English and came out of the opening with a slight advantage. Unfortunately his opponent, rated 250 points higher played a very strong middle game and eventually gained a point for Hastings.
Michael played very well against an opponent out rating him by 350 points but eventually had to concede.
Andy has recently gone over 1900 rating points, an outstanding performance by an 11 year old. He fought hard right to the end but did get into time trouble. His opponent, rated 165 points higher, eventually gained the upper hand and won another point for Hastings.
Andrew on board 1 continued his fine season and gained a very solid draw against Hastings’ top player. Again there was a big rating difference, this time of 210 points so this represents a fine game by Andrew.
Overall Bexhill were out rated by over 1000 points and yet halfway through the match all games were still competitive.
On Friday 31st March, Bexhill 3 entertained Crowborough 2 in Division 3 of the Mid Sussex league.
The two clubs were joint top of the division, however we were actually in pole position due to a far superior game point difference and also having a match in hand. This meant that a draw would be enough for Bexhill to be crowned champions.
Our team in board order was Bill, Steve M, myself and Derek.
I was first to finish and unfortunately I lost my match. This clearly created a lot of pressure for the other 3 players to gain two points from the remaining three.
Steve was next to finish and got us back into the match, by playing a wonderful attacking game. He was a piece down but such was the quality of his attack that this made no difference.
He smashed open his opponents King side defence and, with checkmate one move away his opponent resigned.
Bill and Derek were both involved in close evenly matched games. Bill applied huge pressure but his young opponent held on grimly for a draw.
This meant that it was all down to Derek to get us the half point that we needed, and he didnt let us down! He and his opponent were well matched and after a three fold repetition a draw was the final result.
Bexhill 3, 2 Crowborough 2, 2
Well done to all members who have played for the third team. A full report on the season will be published when all the matches are completed.
On Monday 16th march our first team travelled to Worthing to take on their 1st team.
This was always going to be a very tough challenge as Worthing have a large number of very strong players to choose from.
Our team, in board order was Andrew, Janis, Steve B and Michael H.
The scale of the challenge was clear when the relative ratings were compared and Worthing out ranked Bexhill by just over 1000 points. They even had a player on board 4 that has been Sussex champion 6 times!
Michael played very well against his illustrious opponent but in the end had to concede defeat.
Steve on 3 fought very well against a fast rising young player and earned an excellent draw.
Janis on 2 facing an opponent out rating him by 370 points played an outstanding game and had his opponent in a great deal of trouble. Eventually a draw was agreed.
Andrew on 1 lost a pawn early on but fought long and hard against an outstanding player, but eventually ran out of time.
Final score Worthing 3 Bexhill 1.
We now have one match left V Hastings 1. Depending on results we may need to win this match to remain in Division 1.
On Friday 3rd March, Bexhill 2 hosted Haywards Heath 1 in Division 2 of The Mid Sussex league.
This was always going to be a big challenge as their number 1 player is currently the highest ranked player in all 3 Mid Sussex Leagues.
As it turned out we were out rated by just over a 1000 points across the top 3 boards!
John on board 2 was first to finish. He played a very exciting attacking game and presented his opponent with many challenges but in the end John had to concede defeat when faced with an impossible end game.
Steve Merchant played exceptionally well on board 3 and managed to go into the end game completely level. As so often in a pawn endgame one wrong move can be crucial and unfortunately Steve made the one error that decided the outcome.
On board 3, Michael Hayward making just his second appearance for the club played a splendid game and had his opponent on the backfoot from very early on. He maintained the pressure and eventually forced a resignation.
Leo had the ultimate challenge on board one, and to his credit made his illustrious opponent work very hard for his victory. By the end his opponent had only 4 minutes left on his clock, but Leo was in an impossible position and had to resign.
The final score of 3 to 1 does not reflect how how well the team played against such a strong team.
On Friday 28th February Bexhill 3 travelled to Horsham to take on their 4th team in Division 3 of the Mid Sussex League.
We were hoping to maintain our 100% record in the Division, and, I am pleased to say, we did with a resounding 4 to 0 win.
Steve Merchant, was first to finish on board 3, when he comprehensively out played his opponent in the endgame.
Bill Luxton on board 1 continued his outstanding season for the 3rd team by checkmating his opponent for his 6th win from 7 games
Derek Cosens on board 4 found an excellent tactic that won a Bishop, and he maintained his lead into the endgame and forced a resignation from his opponent.
On board 2 I, like Derek, found a tactic to win a Bishop and also maintained this advantage into the endgame and eventually my opponent resigned.
We now have 2 league matches and one more win will secure the top spot.
